Love Me, Love Me Not
by KitKatTicTac
Summary: A heartbroken Bella runs away to Oregon after finding Edward with Alice. There, she meets the Aster family, who take her in and change her. After the transformation,, Bella remembers only small parts of her human life. She doesn't even remember the Cullens. A chance meeting however, might reignite some old memories... or will it take more than that?
1. He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

**I don't own Twilight. Stephanie Meyer does. Heck, I barely even own the plot, since my friend requested this.**

* * *

I had been told by every vampire I know that the venom was excruciating. Like holding up the sky, with daggers digging into your bare skin. Once you have been bitten, nothing else matters. You desperately beg for death, wondering what you did so wrong to deserve such torment. They had said there was nothing more painful than the agonizing burn of the toxin slowly molding your body into death. There was nothing more painful. _There was nothing more painful_.

They lied.

* * *

_Two Days Prior_

"Bellarina! There's the little human. You know, you don't really get out much. That can't possibly be good for you. I know what'll fix that: a nice, long game of baseball."

Emmett came bounding into the room. In that moment he reminded me of a puppy, with a ditzy grin on his face and wide, excited eyes. In fact, I could almost see the tail wagging behind him.

"Thanks, but no thanks. If I get hit by a curveball you pitch it'll be equivalent to getting shot."

"You're no fun, Tinkerbell! Missing Captain Hook already, eh? He's only gone out hunting with Tiger Lily and Ted."

I rolled my eyes fondly at Emmett's comparison. He insisted on calling the entire family (and me) by names from the characters in Peter Pan. I was Tinkerbell, but only because of my name. Edward was Captain Hook; Alice was Tiger Lily; Jasper was Tubby Ted (why that was, I had no idea); Emmett was Nibs; and Rosalie was simply known as "The Mermaid." Carlisle and Esme were Peter and Wendy. It was all endearing, in a way. I decided to play along.

"Yeah, well, where's the Mermaid?"

"Right here." Rosalie said simply as she strode into the living room. She raised her hand in greeting and smiled slightly at me. Ever since she had told me her story right before the battle with Victoria, she seemed to have slowly been building approval towards me. I doubted I could call it sisterly love, as she felt towards Alice, but I was grateful for the small steps she was trying to make.

"Yeah, Tink, the Mermaid's right here." Emmett smirked playfully.

"The Mermaid came because the Mermaid's thirsty. Now let's go, Emmett."

"I'm not Emmett, I'm Nibs!"

"I said _let's go, Emmett_." Rosalie said more persistently, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to scare him. Naturally, it didn't work. Not on Emmett at least.

"Fine," Emmett grumbled. "But you have to play baseball with me later.

"Deal." Rosalie all but dragged him out of the room by the ear.

I turned my attention back to the TV screen, not really paying attention. Carlisle was off at work, Esme was grocery shopping to keep up the family's appearance. So I was home alone?

"Isabella."

I jumped at least ten feet in the air and screamed so loud the Denali clan must have heard me in Alaska. I grabbed the baseball bat Emmett had left sitting on the couch, then turned around and got ready to attack the intruder.

_"That was funny, Bella! Tell us another!" _The two imaginary beings sitting atop my shoulders started giggling. I was going crazy. Next I would try to learn how to dance.

My conscience cracked up. It started laughing harder when it realized I was having a conversation with myself, and then even harder once it processed who I had tried to assault.

I slowly exhaled and set down the bat, then sat down and rubbed my temples. I glanced wearily over at Jasper, who was holding up his hands in mock surrender. He flashed his dimples in a wide grin.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's alright." I forced a smile.

It would be a lie to say I wasn't intimidated by the tall blond vampire. He was, like all the Cullens, extremely good looking. That was only a small portion of what strung me tight.

Jasper was certainly reclusive. He didn't speak much, and the closest thing I had ever had to a conversation with him was when he was showing me the scars along his arm. Even then, he had been the only one talking. In fact, I had a suspicion he only put up with me because of Alice.

I realized my emotions must have had poor Jasper in a train wreck right now. I was feeling distressed, then guilty, then anxious, then relieved that he was here in the first place. I felt guilt again when he said,

"You're afraid of me. I can leave if you want." He turned to go.

"No!" I screamed, then blushed profusely. "I mean no. I don't feel like being alone."

Jasper smirked.

"Alright then. I'll stay. Alice and Edward are still hunting."

I nodded.

"Can I at least get a book to read then? I'm pretty sure I left Wuthering Heights in Edward's room."

He gestured towards the stairs, and I walked up absently. He followed as we talked about casual things like the weather and the wedding. I was sure he could feel how tense I was, which made me even guiltier.

At last we stopped outside Edward's room. However, as I set my hand on the doorknob, Jasper firmly grasped it at pulled it away. I looked up at him. He was staring fixedly with coal eyes at the closed door. I heard him mutter something under his breath, then he looked down at me like a dog who had been caught tearing up the sofa.

"Don't go in there, Bella."

"Why not? My book's in there."

Before he had a chance to say anything else, I pushed past Jasper.

Well, I was right about Wuthering Heights. It was right there, lying on Edward's bed.

However, so was a shocked Alice, staring at us. Covered only by sheets. With Edward hovering directly above her.

I don't know how long I stood there, with Jasper projecting sheer hate from behind me. I know that it was long enough for Carlisle's shift to end, Esme to call into the living room, and Rosalie and Emmett to come home, Emmett hollering for his  
"Teddy-Bell."

Alice spoke first.

"Bella—"

I abruptly turned on my heel, shoved Jasper out of my way, and stormed downstairs. I could feel the hot tears pricking beneath my eyelids. The rest of the Cullen family stared at me.

"Is something wrong, dear?" Esme stepped forward as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Go ask that... that _leech_!" I shrieked, jabbing a thumb behind me as I spat out Jacob's condescending name for the vampires. I saw the hurt flash through Esme's eyes. I knew I would feel sorry for it later, but right now I didn't even care.

"Pardon?" Carlisle raised his eyebrows in surprise. He knew I was generally open and accepting to the Cullens. I would be upset too, if someone I considered a daughter started hating me all of a sudden.

"Bella, wait!" Alice came bounding down the stairs with a blanket wrapped around her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Edward, clad in a pair of jeans, stumbled down the stairs after a forceful push from a furious and enraged Jasper. There was a sharp intake of breath as everyone put two and two together. Even sweet, motherly Esme growled at Edward and Alice.

I didn't even see it happen. Emmett had thrown Edward against the wall, and had him raised by the throat. Rosalie was screeching with her arms raised at Alice, who was cowering in shame and fear. Esme and Carlisle were comforting Jasper.

I was stomping outside, and my Chevy mercifully started in a New York minute. I could hear Emmett roaring and Rosalie howling from out here. I saw Jasper running out of the house desperately.

"Bella, please, think! Don't do anything rash—"

I was rolling out of the driveway before he could finish.

After writing a quick note to Charlie telling him I decided to take a road trip, I hastily packed two weeks' worth of clothing, my toiletries and my credit card, then hopped into my car and drove South.

I drove four hours down from Forks to Portland. It was twelve in the morning now. I stopped at a rest stop, then for the first time since I had discovered my fiance's betrayal, I rested my head against the steering wheel and cried.

* * *

I slept for only six hours. At six in the morning, I got up and drove another two hours to Central Oregon. It was a nice little town called Bend. The first thing I did was check into a hotel, then I went down to an electronics store and got myself a cell phone.

If I had my way, the phone would be a simple flip phone that could only call. However, since I didn't want to buy a laptop as well, and I would probably need to email Charlie and Renee, I was forced to get a smartphone with email, web, and call enabled. I got the cheapest smartphone possible, though. Charlie had always been trying to set me up on one of these expensive phone plans, anyway, so I was sure he wouldn't mind.

I put Charlie's, Renee's, Mike's, Jessica's, and Angela's numbers on the phone. After a little hesitation, I put Emmett's and Rosalie's on there too. Seeing them defend me like that changed my perspective on them completely for the better.

It was a little saddening to stay in Bend. It reminded me so much of Forks.

I drove back North up to Portland. Bordering Bend was Sisters, Newport, and Redmond. Portland was the biggest city that would take the shortest drive.

I stayed in Portland for a day.

After wandering around the streets of Portland for a while, I realized it was getting dark. I started to head back to my car, when a burly hand appeared out of nowhere and pulled me into a dark alley. The other hand covered my mouth, forbidding me to scream. I started to flail, then I felt the first knife dig into my stomach.

I had just now realized there were two. Both were men, I could tell from the way they were laughing. My first thought was Rosalie. This was exactly the way she was turned. Please don't let there be any vampires in the area...

After the men finished torturing me, they discussed what to do. Eventually, they settled on leaving me there to die. It wasn't like I could do anything anyway. So I sat there and waited patiently.

It was actually surprisingly pleasant. Dying, I mean. By now I couldn't even feel where the knives had dug into my skin. My entire body was numb, and I could feel my conscience slipping away...

What the heck was that?

A man looking around Carlisle's age hovered above me, a look of uncertainty and fear evident on his face. No, no, no, no! This couldn't be happening...

These were my last coherent thoughts as the man's teeth lodged into my neck.

* * *

"Oh, my gosh! Ohh, shi—"

"Language, Anais."

A woman's voice cut into the first girl's. Anais? That was a pretty name. The second woman had pronounced it "Ann-eye-eez."

"Sorry, Elizabeth! And _what _the _heck_, Andrew?" Anais was speaking again.

"I couldn't just let her die." The man whom I assumed was Andrew stated quietly. I could hear no hint of remorse from him. I was liking him already.

Anais was silent.

"This _does _seem a little dangerous..." Another girl's voice tentatively piped up. "Although she looks kind. I'm excited. I wonder what her name is."

The infamous venom pain started kicking in.

At first, I thought the Cullens had lied to me. This wasn't so bad. Soon, though, I had to grit my teeth. Finally, I had to scream. I didn't stop, even when my throat was hoarse.

I desperately gripped onto my human memories, even Edward and Alice. Charlie going off to fish with Billy, Renee talking excitedly about Phil. I remembered the last conversation I had had with a Cullen. Who was it? Jasper... Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Edward. I remembered Jake kissing me, and me breaking my hand in an attempt to punch him. I almost broke my cry with a quick laugh. Seth, Leah, Quil, Embry, Paul, Sam. I remembered them fighting on our side against Victoria's newborn army. Angela, Mike, Jessica, Ben, Tyler, Lauren, Eric. I remembered Jessica telling me about the Cullens on the first day.

It was no use. I felt every memory slipping away as the pain started to subside, and I started to stir.

* * *

_Two Days Later_

I clenched my fists then relaxed. I could hear the voices again. One of them was Anais, another was the other girl's voice. The one who had said she was excited to meet me.

"Look, Anais, she's waking up!"

I could feel the fluffy down comforter beneath my fingertips. I slowly lifted a hand, and placed it on my stomach.

Then I opened my eyes.

* * *

**This is a request for a friend of my mine. She's a big fan of Jasper/Bella.**

**It was pretty funny, actually. She asked me to write this for her birthday, which was at least a month ago. Jasper had to be my least favorite Cullen. So she sends me a text, saying, **

**"Write me a Jasper/Bella story!"**

**And I'm like,**

**"Ohh, _Hale_, no!"**

**Haha! See what I did there?**

**Anyway, she made me write one through blackmail and some very vicious threats, so I decided to do it. Only because it was her birthday! Since I had absolutely _no _idea about the Jasper/Bella pairing, I went to go read some fanfiction on it. Then I found myself liking it, and,**

**BABAM!**

**Goodbye, Team Jacob, hello, Team Jasper!**

**I hope you like the story so far. I have absolutely no idea where to go with this, as my friend is probably going to feed me the rest of the plot as I write. Hope to hear from you!**

**~Kit~**


	2. They'll Kill Me, They'll Kill Me Not

I sat up much too quickly. I knew what I was, of course. How I did, I had no idea.

"There she is. Andrew! Come up here! She's awake!" Anais gave me a smile. It was nice to finally meet who I had been listening to these past few days.

Anais reminded me of... someone. I forgot who. She had blond hair, gold eyes, and was unbelievably gorgeous. She was wearing a yellow one shouldered blouse and blue skinny capris that stopped just below her knees. The top part from the sleeve on her shirt running horizontal was ruffled. She had on gold hoop earrings and a matching gold necklace.

There was a petite girl sitting next to Anais. Our age, I could tell. She was grinning up at me, her wide eyes alight. Her reddish-brown hair was in two braids down the side, and she had a kitten-eared headband resting on her head. She was wearing a pastel blue dress with a blue sash around the waist.

In that moment a man walked in. I could immediately tell by his appearance he was "Andrew." He had dark brown wisps of hair and was wearing a crisp business suit. He smiled tentatively at me, as if he were waiting for me to attack him and tear his head off. He extended his hand.

"Hello. I'm Andrew. They are Anais and Aria."

I looked skeptically at his hand, then back up at his face. Was he really being this formal with me?

I shook his hand, figuring it would be rude if I didn't.

"Hey. I'm Bella. Bella Swan. Are you vampires?"

Everyone in the room backpedaled. Anais stood up.

"How did you know that?"

"I really don't know," I replied with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure I used to interact with vampires when I was human. They were vegetarian, too."

"Do you know their names?" Andrew asked curiously.

"No. Come to think of it, I really don't remember anything about my human life... My name and age, obviously, but that's about all I can recall at the moment."

"How old are you?" Aria gazed up at me.

"Eighteen."

"Awesome! I was seventeen when I was turned. I was turned by Andrew a little while after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon."

"Really? That's cool. So do you remember what it was like seeing him take the first couple of steps?"

"Mmhmm! I remember my entire family screaming and my little brother asking what the 'mun' was." Aria smiled wistfully. "My brother's still alive. We go to school with his children. He doesn't know I exist, since he thought I drowned. That _is _what happened, to an extent."

I felt sorry for her. I imagined the heartbreak her brother went through when he realized his older sister was dead.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's alright." It looked like she was about to say more, but another boy came waltzing in. I didn't even hear this one's voice as I had been changing.

"Hey! I heard from Liz that we were getting a new sister?" His eyes fell on me, and he grinned. "Wassup? You're Bella, right? If I'd known that Andrew was gonna change someone else, I definitely wouldn't have gone to that summer camp to be a counselor."

The boy put me in a headlock.

"Leo, you're choking her." Anais smirked fondly.

Leo smiled sheepishly and let me go. He was tall and masculine. He towered over me by a good foot and a half. He had dark hair and sharp features. He kind of reminded me of a bear.

"Alright, I'll relent. She's still gotta meet Liz and Brandon, though. So, were you chatting with Aria about her boring human life?"

Aria smacked him upside the head.

"As if yours is anymore interesting."

"I got to meet President Lincoln, shortstop. I'm pretty sure my life _is _more interesting."

Aria rolled her eyes at Leo. Out of curiosity, I turned to Anais.

"How were you changed, Anais?"

"I fell out of a window."

Anais said this so easily and calmly I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not. Before I had time to ponder it, a kind looking brown-haired woman and a boy looking around my age came in.

"Bella." The woman smiled at me sweetly. I liked her immediately. "I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz, Eliza, or anything of the sort."

"Hi, Liz. I'm um... never mind."

Everyone laughed politely. The other guy smirked and ruffled my hair.

"I'm Brandon. We look a lot alike, you know. Other than the eyes."

I wondered if that was true. As if on cue, Anais handed me a hand mirror and I let out a strangled gasp. That wasn't me. That couldn't be me. I had grown taller and my figure had filled out and curved a bit more. My legs seemed to stretch out for a mile beneath the peach colored dress someone had put me in while I was turning. My eyes were wide, like Aria's, but with thicker and longer lashes, like Anais's. They were red, of course. The bridge of my nose was slim and came to a pointed, very slightly upturned end. My lips were full and candy pink, and perfectly suited my now heart shaped face. I had ringleted chestnut hair reaching a little below my shoulders, with subtle caramel highlights here and there. I smiled uncertainly into the mirror. Even the small upturning of my lips could stop traffic.

I was absolutely stunning.

"Well," Andrew started. "Since I don't have to explain the concept of vampires and all of the introductions are done—"

"Hang on!" Leo scowled. "You still need to tell her how you were created and how you found Liz and Brandon."

Andrew sighed.

"I was created by an unknown vampire at the time of ancient Greece. I was twenty-eight. I rescued Elizabeth from the Titanic in 1912, when she was twenty-five. I found Brandon like I found you, lying half-dead in the streets. He's eighteen, as well. How did you end up behind a dumpster, anyway?"

I grimaced.

"All I remember of that is two thugs and a couple of knives. That's it."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing."

"Do you have a power?"

I shrugged. He leaned back in his office chair. Only then did I realize that I wasn't actually in a bed; I was on top of a pool table. He stroked his chin in contemplation, then spoke.

"Well, I suppose since we know about you and you know how we got changed, we should tell you a bit more about us. We don't usually live here in Portland. We just own a house here, and my family is accompanying me on a business trip. I'm the owner of multiple hospitals and real estate under the name of _Aster and Associates_, Elizabeth here is an elementary schoolteacher. We all live in Minnesota, on a house next to Lake Superior. We'll be moving to Bend, soon, though. Have you heard of the place?" Andrew didn't give me a chance to answer before he continued. "I thought so. Actually, we're still debating whether to move to Bend, Newport, or Astoria. Maybe you can give us some input. If you want to stay with us, that is. We're not nomadic vampires, you see."

This was a lot to process. They wanted me to stay with them? I thought it over. They _did _already did feel like family, and I wanted to get to know more about them. Besides, where else could I go?

"Alright. I'll stay with you. And I'd actually suggest Newport. I passed it on my way up here, and it's a really nice, cloudy little town. Bend's great too, but it's a bit too sunny."

Everyone beamed at me, and I looked around the circle at each individual face and smiled.

However, I couldn't help but get the feeling I'd known people like them before.

* * *

**Hope you're happy, Kat. I had too much trouble trying to make them distinctly different from the Cullens. ( o)_(o )**

**~Kit~**


	3. They'll Meet Me, They'll Meet Me Not

_One Hundred Years Later_

"Isabella Swan Aster! Get down here or we're gonna be late for the first day of school!"

I rolled my eyes at Anais. _It's alright if we're late_, I thought, then I pushed the thought towards my adoptive sister. She deflected it of course. Almost the entire family had learned how.

"Bella!" She shrieked. "I thought I told you not to use that mind control on me!"

I hid a giggle behind my hand and ran down the stairs of our new house in Newport. Elizabeth was in the kitchen, and looked surprised to see me. I grinned at her, grabbed an apple for show, then yelled back at Anais.

"It's not mind control, Anais! It's telepathic manipulation!" I used the technical term Andrew had called it after we had discovered my power, although it really _was _mind control. Along with the mind control, we found that, like Aria, I had a very high level of self control, being able to completely resist spilled human blood after only three years.

I ran out the door and hopped into the driver's seat of Leo's giant black car. Brandon was sitting up front, with his feet on the dashboard and _Gone With the Wind _in his hands.

"Hey, sis!"

Yes, sis. Brandon had taken a liking to calling me sis, like Leo. Since the two of us looked so alike, we had been posing as twins everywhere we'd gone in the past ten years. Brandon and I even had a habit of finishing one another's sentences.

I wasn't in a romantic relationship with any of the Asters (the last name of my adoptive family), and that was fine by me. I wasn't really interested anyway, and Brandon was with Aria, and Leo was with Anais. Andrew and Elizabeth had gotten married in 1915, three years after he had rescued her from an overturned lifeboat on the Titanic. It was sweet really, the relationship the two of them had. They were like a mother and father to my siblings and me, encouraging us and gently correcting our errors. The "mean and scary" businessman he was, though, Andrew would only give us pats on the head whenever his colleagues or employers were over. Elizabeth said I had him wrapped around my little finger, seeing as he let Aria, Anais and me spend tens of thousands of dollars on clothes. Apparently, I had gotten over my little case of mall-phobia.

I drove like a maniac to school, while my siblings chatted in the backseat. I had to be hitting at least a hundred fifty miles per hour.

I heard a boy yelling at us through the open window as the tires screeched and I pulled into the parking lot. I stepped out and smiled however, and he was stunned into speechlessness. That was my solution to most problems. Just smile at them, and if that didn't work, change their train of thought with my power.

The boy was blushing furiously. Everyone had turned to see why, and now all eyes were on us. And I doubted it was just because we came in the middle of the first semester.

We all walked up the stairs to the school. I could feel the girls' jealous glares at our family and the boys' stares of lust. I didn't need to be an empath to notice it. An empath. Hm.

Aria politely asked for our schedules. Andrew had specifically requested we get all of our classes together, since we were practically inseparable. Brandon, Leo and I were posing as seniors, while Anais was a junior and Aria was a sophomore. Along with all my classes with Brandon, I had cooking classes with Anais (since it was a mixed class) and phys-ed with Leo.

"Try to be a little late. Humans do that a lot." Anais offered.

I grinned at her.

"Thanks, An."

Brandon and I idled on the way to the next class. He looked like he was in deep thought about something, then he grinned.

"Are you ready to creep out our—"

"—classmates with how we finish each other's sentences? Heck, yeah!" I smirked. We high fived, then finally made it to the first class of the day: language arts.

There was a collective gasp around the room when Brandon opened the door. Even the teacher's glasses slipped down his nose. He cleared his throat.

"You must be the Asters."

I spoke first.

"That's right, we're—"

"—the Asters. Brandon and Bella." Brandon finished.

"Try saying _that _three times fast." I teased the class. They gave an appreciative laugh.

The teacher cleared his throat again, more nervously this time. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"We don't have two seats next to each other, but if you want, Bella, you can sit next to Abbey, and Brandon, you can sit next to Garrett. I could hear both of their heartbeats speed up. I decided to cut the two of them a little slack. Wherever we went, there were always those humans that felt intimidated by us.

I smiled sweetly at the teacher and sent a few mind-suggestions his way.

"Actually, maybe we could switch around the seating plan so that I could sit next to my twin brother?" I said, emphasizing 'twin' so that he knew he would have hell to pay if he tried to separate us. He sighed in defeat.

"Very well. Zoey, go sit next to Garrett."

Zoey packed her stuff and scurried to do as she was told. Unfortunately, Brandon and I were placed in the middle of the room. Brandon didn't seem to care; he loved attention. I, on the other hand, didn't. Hating attention seemed to be the only trait I had inherited from my human life. I could remember that, too.

Brandon and I had a silent conversation. Our lips were moving too fasts for humans to see and our voices were too quiet for humans to hear.

"This is boring." I started.

"I know. We have this class again next hour."

"We really have it back to back?"

"Yes." Brandon murmured. "Then after that, we have PE with Leo."

"That should be fun." I stuck out the tip of my tongue.

Brandon and I talked throughout the entire class period. It was almost comical how the teacher didn't notice. I already had gone to college, no need to listen to this boring lecture.

Class ended quickly enough, and we were dismissed. After a five minute passing period, which we spent with Leo, Anais, and Aria, we headed back off to our class and sat through another forty-five minute lecture. Finally, we got out and headed down towards the gym with Leo.

Leo joked around the entire way down. We got the same reaction in the gym as language arts class.

"See you later, Bells!" Brandon pushed me headed towards the boys' locker room and pushed me towards the girls'.

The girls that were remaining inside the locker room immediately turned and eyed me enviously as I danced into the locker room. I turned the dial on my locker and changed, and most of their faces turned even redder than they'd been before. I could hear every word they said about me, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

"Oh my gosh! Look at her. She has a perfect figure."

"She has a crazy hot twin brother!"

"Dibs!"

"No! He's totally mine!"

"Her twin? Haven't you even _seen _her other brother? Leo? He's gonna be mine."

I smirked. Leo had a wife whom he loved and adored. Not that the girls needed to know that.

"I want to rip the hair right off her head."

"Have you seen how she drives? She drives like a maniac. It was hilarious, watching her almost run over Zach today. Then guess what? She smiled at him, and he totally forgot that she was going at like, 300 miles per hour."

"Forget the speed! She has like, one of _the _most expensive cars in the world."

"Her family's loaded. Her dad's a businessman who owns like, a million hospitals and buildings, and her mom's an schoolteacher.

"You mean the new teacher, Mrs. Aster, down at the elementary school? My brother has her for his first grade year."

"Yeah, that's her. I'm pretty sure they're millionaires. Look, she's only wearing designer clothes. Even her PE uniform is designer."

I let them have their own fantasies about us and rolled my eyes. We weren't millionaires; we were billionaires. Andrew had been saving up money ever since the U.S. started using the current dollar bill. He just found it modest to keep the billionaire status under wraps. Another reason was we couldn't draw too much attention to ourselves.

I jogged out of the locker room, and was bombarded by Leo and Brandon. Leo threw his arm lazily over my shoulders, while Brandon put his hand on the small of my back as if to guide me.

"Those girls love you." Brandon informed laughingly. Leo proceeded with a very accurate imitation of our classmates.

"I want to rip her hair right off her head."

"Oh, yeah." I said with a scowl. "You don't need a song from The Lion King to portray the love in _that _message."

All three of us cracked up and headed towards the bleachers. Getting stared at again.

Seriously, what was wrong with my classmates? We were just people!

Ok, maybe not. We still looked like people!

Again, that wouldn't work. I scowled and tuned in to the teacher, who was explaining the capture the flag game we were going to play outside. I could almost feel Leo's approval tangibly. He was nothing if not physical. He had proven that with Anais.

I shuddered.

By now Coach had finished up with explaining capture the flag.

It was fun. I laughed as people tried to tackle Leo, on the off-chance they got to him. The game was more between my siblings and me. I think a couple of the guys on my team were annoyed that I was faster, stronger, _and _more lithe than they were.

I wasn't anxious to get back to the locker room. So I was grateful when a girl slowed me down on the way back inside. I quickly found myself disliking her, however.

"Hi. I'm Piper."

Piper scrutinized me from head to toe. She sniffed haughtily, a move I'm sure she meant to be discreet. I gave my most striking smile at her, trying to knock her off her pedestal and make her show some humility.

It worked. Piper blushed in jealousy, but continued with her 'introduction.'

"Are you joining the cheer squad?"

"Maybe."

"Oh. Well, tryouts are next month. You should join. The uniforms are hot. I'm the cheer captain, by the way."

I tried not to burst out laughing at her declaration. I'd seen the cheer uniforms in pictures on the school website. The skirts were too short, the tops bared the midriff. All in all, it looked ridiculous. And what was Piper trying to prove, saying she was cheer captain?

"Really? I thought you said your name was Pepper." I remarked dryly, then smirked and went into the locker room.

"It's Piper!" Piper called.

I had changed before anyone else had even reached the locker room, and I was pounding on the door of the boys' locker room by the time the first girl had entered. I heard a shower turn off.

"Yeesh, man! The door was..."

The boy standing in front of me choked on his words seeing me standing there. His lower half was wrapped in a towel. If I were human I would have blushed.

"Tell Brandon and Leo Aster to get out here."

He didn't move an inch.

"Well? Didn't you hear me?"

I made sent him thoughts of obedience, and he ran to get my brothers. I heard him telling Brandon and Leo that their sister was out here, and they were out within a matter of minutes.

"Something wrong, Bells?" Leo and Brandon assumed their previous positions, with Leo's arm over my shoulder and Brandon's hand on the small of my back.

"Nothing's wrong, if you count out the fact that 'Piper the Cheer Captain is a smug little jerk."

Brandon grinned.

"I heard. She was the one making the fool of herself, not vice versa. Although you _should _take up her offer concerning the cheer squad. It'll give us a sense of normalcy. And I know for a fact Anais is joining."

"Really? What about Aria?"

"She prefers baseball."

"Right. Sure, I'll go out for cheer."

Brandon smirked and ruffled my hair.

* * *

Our next class was science. Brandon knew everything about it. Heck, he memorized the Periodic Table, even down to the atomic structures and such.

We had lunch after fourth hour. If there was anybody that hadn't seen us in the first four hours of the day... There was no avoiding it now.

I tugged on my bangs as we walked inside, the cafeteria going quiet. I grabbed an apple while the rest of my siblings took meals. Props, we called them.

Everyone's eyes followed us back to the table. I was starting to get really annoyed. Leave us alone, I wanted to shout. Instead, I opted for murmuring it to my siblings, and they gave nods in agreement. After a couple of minutes, a familiar looking boy walked up.

"Hey, I'm Zach. Do you remember me, Isabella?" He looked at me expectantly, smirking and arrogantly running a hand through his hair. I could tell he was the jock type.

I gave him a once-over.

"No..."

"Really?" His smile waned. "You don't recognize me _at__ all_?"

I shook my head.

"Zach. Football captain, basketball player..."

"Zach, huh? Doesn't ring a bell."

He frowned.

"You almost hit me with your car this morning."

"Oh, right!" I laughed sarcastically. "_Now _I remember you! Because I _totally _remember all of the people I nearly kill." Actually, I did, but he didn't need to know that.

He perked up.

"Cool! So, if you want, I can show you, Aria, or Anais around downtown."

Aria, Anais and I stared at him in distaste. He didn't seem to get the message.

"Bella?"

I turned back to Brandon's plate and plucked a french fry from the tray. I ate it, even though it didn't really taste the best. I just needed an excuse to quit talking to Zach. Aria and Anais continued.

"Taken."

"Already know the place."

Zach looked at me hopefully. I could tell he wasn't used to begging girls to hanging out with him. He seemed a bit arrogant, though.

"Busy."

It was kind of pitiful, watching the way his face fell, but I had seen him picking on a 'nerd' earlier today, and I didn't want to deal with people like that.

"Oh. You sure? Because I mean, there's this place called Mo's, and they serve some pretty awesome ice cream sundaes."

"Great. I'll look into it." I drawled. The truth was I already went to Mo's with my siblings. We never ordered anything, just sat and talked.

"So does that mean—"

I glared at him. Brandon and Leo were cracking up, but Aria and Anais rolled their eyes. I was sure my own eyes flashed black for a second, because he scurried away, mumbling an apology.

"Great way to take care of things, Bella." Aria said with a small smile. I grinned, but still felt a little guilty about having to just blow him off like that.

I got up and walked away from the group, then went to my next class.

* * *

Anais groaned.

"Cooking? _Why _cooking? We don't even eat!" Anais complained after failing to break her eleventh egg, she had just given up. That was saying a lot for Anais.

The only reason Anais kept receiving more eggs from the teacher was because I had to use my power on her. The teacher, I mean.

"Be _gentle_ with the egg, Anais." Brandon lectured almost too seriously. "_Feel_ the egg. _Be_ the egg." And with that, he gave the egg a small tap on the counter, and then cracked it into the cookie batter. Anais scream-cussed, and I had to mind control the teacher again.

"Will you keep it down, Anais? You're going to give yourself a detention."

Anais snorted.

"So? The guy that runs detention is a male teacher. I should have no problem getting out."

Brandon and I shuddered, then popped the cookies into the oven.

The teacher sat us down and praised us for being the first group done, despite the little 'egg' catastrophe. There were egg yolks on the walls, the floor, the counter, and in the sink.

"We should go to Mo's tonight." Anais said. "Andrew's going to be on a meeting my the time we get home, and Liz is gonna be staying at school late to grade papers."

"That sounds like a good idea." Brandon nodded.

As we waited for our cookies to bake, I fell asleep. Or as 'asleep' as I could get. Before I knew it, Brandon and Anais had the cookies out of the oven and were nibbling carefully on the edges.

I sat up.

"Aren't you going to eat any, Bella?" The teacher stood over me.

"Allergies." I said.

I knew that allergies wasn't listed on my medical form, so I planted seeds of trust in the teacher's head. She nodded tersely, then walked away.

* * *

Zach was watching us like a hawk as we walked over to the car. I pulled my phone out of my purse and called Elizabeth.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Liz. It's me."

"Ah, Bella. Hello, dear. What is it?"

"We were just gonna go over to Mo's before we came home. You know, the ice cream store?"

There was silence as Liz discussed it with someone on her end of the line.

"Actually, could you just come straight home? Andrew has to speak with all of you."

My curiosity was piqued, and we made it home in less than five minutes.

* * *

The home was beautiful the entire side overlooking the ocean was made of glass. A deck ran around the entire house. In the front, there was the most beautiful garden that could have ever existed, courtesy of Elizabeth. The walkway and long, circular driveway were made of cobblestone, with a fountain of a stag in the driveway. The front was surrounded by forest, and the front of the entire mansion was made of glass, as well. In the back, facing the ocean, there was a wisteria-surrounded pond with a gazebo leading out into the water.

The foyer had a music room to the right with just about all the instruments in existence. To the left there was a staircase going up the side of the wall, with a potted plant nestled in its curve. An archway next to the stairs led to the kitchen, a living room was straight ahead through an opening. Andrew's and Elizabeth's offices were to the right of the living room. Upstairs, there was a movie room, a game room, and a huge library. Andrew and Elizabeth's room was upstairs, too, along with the rest of ours.

Two buildings stood on either side of the mansion, one a pool and the other a ballroom.

My favorite part of the entire place, however, was the bedrooms. All of the bedrooms, save Andrew and Elizabeth's, were hidden in some way, shape, or form.

Anais and Leo's was a large room beneath the stairs. To get in, you would have to turn the odd little piece jutting up on the railing of the stairs. The stairs would crank up, and even more stairs would lead down below to Anais and Leo's room.

Aria and Brandon's room was behind the fireplace. To get in, all you had to do was push on the mantle and the fireplace would rotate, revealing their room.

My own was hidden behind a bookshelf in the library. It was decorated a purple color; the color Charlie had chosen for me when I had moved back to... wherever I had moved.

We walked into the house. Elizabeth and Andrew were waiting for us in the dining room. We all sat a bit uncomfortably at the table; we obviously weren't meeting because Andrew was going on another business trip or we were going on a camping trip. Andrew cleared his throat and assumed the no-nonsense position.

"I have hired a new worker for the hospital that I have opened up here in Newport. He will start here at the beginning of next year: three months." We all relaxed; though why he would call a meeting for a new worker, we had no idea. Then he continued. "He will be bringing his family with him. His wife, and his five children. Please befriend them. His wife will be teaching art at your school."

"So _that's _who's replacing Mr. Pierce," Brandon murmured in my ear.

"Is that the only reason you called us here, Andrew?" Aria asked. Andrew shook his head.

"I called you here because they're like us. They're... vampires."

Everyone in the room, except for Elizabeth and Andrew, hissed. They both gazed patiently at us, waiting for us to calm down.

"We just got settled, Andrew!" Anais growled. "One of them will probably bite someone, then we'll have to move again—"

"They drink animals as well." Andrew stated diplomatically.

"Well then, one of them will slip up! And we're the new residents here, we'll be the object of suspicion."

"Have more faith, Anais." Aria said, turning towards our sister. Anais shut up, then gave a sigh in defeat.

"Fine! I'll tolerate them," Here, Anais ruffled her straight blond hair. "But only out of respect for you, Andrew. What are their names anyway?"

Andrew paused, trying to search for their last name in his head.

"I do believe that their last name is... Cullen."

* * *

**Cannot. Write. In. First. Person. 0_0**

**Mo's is a real place, and they _do _serve amazing hot fudge sundaes. They're most famous for their clam chowder though. Seriously, once you try the chowder at Mo's, then you'll never want to eat anything else.**

**I wanted to write a little section about Bella's first day at school in Newport, where the rest of the story is going to take place. ^_^ I hope you all enjoyed, and please review!**

**~Kit~**


	4. They're Forgiven, They're Forgiven Not

**Jasper**

One hundred years. It's been one hundred years. One hundred years since unbearable heartbreak, one hundred years since our Bella 'went for a road trip' and never came back.

Carlisle and Esme had managed to forgive Edward and Alice enough to keep them around. Rosalie and Emmett would just steer clear and speak with them only if needed. I was less forgiving, ignoring them and glaring at them if either one tried to speak with me. Because of the constant discord in the house, Edward and Alice would often leave for a few months or so, so we moved around regularly.

Carlisle had been transferred to one of the hospitals belonging to _Aster and Associates_, a large company that focused on hospitals and real estate. Andrew Aster had recently opened up a new hospital in Newport, and had been looking for new employees. Newport had the perfect weather and wildlife, it had a small size, and we had to move anyway. We'd been staying in Maine long enough to arouse suspicion.

That was how I'd ended up with Rosalie in a cramped moving truck, with Emmett, Carlisle, Esme, Edward, and Alice in the car behind us. Rosalie had always liked to pick fights with Alice, so she opted to ride with me to keep the peace.

I really hadn't felt like moving again. We'd just gotten settled in Maine, and I'd started liking the weather. However, we had to do what we had to do.

I hated this truck. It barely drove above sixty. I pulled aside so my family could get through, and once they got the chance, they started going at two hundred miles down the freeway.

Rosalie was glaring out the window when I glanced at her.

"Are you alright, Rose?" I asked. She shook her head.

"It's only a hundred four degrees outside. To us though, it feels like two hundred. Thank goodness that Aster guy didn't open up a hospital here in Kansas."

I chuckled and told her we'd camp in the Rockies for a day to hunt, then we'd go back to driving.

"The Rockies? Finally, a mountain!"

The Rocky Mountains were nice and cloudy. They had some good elk down there, and though Carlisle felt a little guilty about hunting in a National Park, he was able to take down a bighorn sheep. Once we had hunted, we went back to driving to Newport.

* * *

After driving all night, we finally arrived at a town called Sisters at around nine in the morning. I called Esme on my phone.

"Jasper?"

"Where are you, Esme?"

"We're at the gas station."

"Which one?"

"The only one in town."

I smiled, and drove the truck down to the gas station.

Rose waited in the truck while I filled it up. From here, it was only a three hour drive to Newport.

"Look at this," Rosalie pointed at her phone screen, and I looked over. "I just looked up Andrew Aster on the internet. He's got his own webpage. Says here he's got a wife and five kids, just like Carlisle does. Aster even owns my favorite mall."

"That's interesting." I said, then turned my eyes back to the road. It truly was. The picture of Andrew Aster looked peculiar. His features were too defined, his eyes too secretive. Carlisle _had _told us there was something about his new employer we would have to accept.

"I just looked up Newport, too." Rosalie said. "Look, it looks exactly like—" Rose shut her mouth, but the damage was done. Newport looked like Forks. I clammed up and focused all my energy into not crushing the steering wheel, or snapping the gas pedal in half. Rose looked a little guilty, but I didn't blame her. She had had generally good memories in Forks, and often forgot that I didn't.

"Sorry, Jazz." She said with an apologetic smile. I nodded at her. The rest of the trip was driven in silence.

* * *

Emmett stretched once we pulled up into the driveway of our new house. He had always been restless.

"Longest trip ever! If I were human, all my bones would be broken." He said, feigning a yawn.

"You're overreacting, Emmett." Rosalie smiled playfully at him and smacked him lightly in the arm. Emmett responded by acting as if she had torn him limb from limb. Rose laughed at his antics. This had even earned a small chuckle from me.

My heart ached. A missed a simple romance like that. Even with Alice, it had always felt as if she were hiding something. With Maria, I doubted it could even be classified as 'romance.'

Carlisle had immediately put us to work unloading and unpacking the boxes. Emmett, Edward and I would hand the boxes off to the girls while Carlisle and Esme scouted the town. Carlisle had to take a look at his new hospital, while Esme had to look at her new school.

As we were unloading, Emmett gave a whistle and commented on the house. The house _was _nice, nicer than our old one in Maine. I'd say it was even nicer than the one in Forks. While we were completely surrounded by trees in Forks, our house here had a nice view of the Pacific Ocean. According to Carlisle, we only lived a few miles away from the Aster family, the family of Carlisle's employer. Carlisle was going to visit Andrew Aster while he was looking around Newport.

"Jazz, help me with the sofa."

I glanced over at Emmett.

"You know as well as I do that you can carry that sofa on your own."

Emmett scrutinized me, then grinned.

"Fine. I'll do it myself." He picked up the sofa and slung it over his shoulder, then walked off the truck and into the house.

* * *

**Andrew**

The squealing of tires in our driveway caught my attention. Apparently, it caught Elizabeth's, too, because she stopped arranging the flowers in the vase she was holding and she went to answer the door. I heard a voice on the porch.

"Hello, Mrs. Aster. I'm Carlisle Cullen, and this is my wife, Esme. Is your husband home?"

I passed Elizabeth on my way to the door. I looked at Carlisle and Esme, surprised.

"Hello, Dr. Cullen. Was there something you needed?"

"Yes. I am aware that you are... like us. You hunt animals, correct?"

"That is correct. My daughters are out hunting right now."

"Alright." He smiled a little. "Would you allow us to hunt here? We could divide up the land. The ten miles separating our houses is all forest space. Five miles each, perhaps?"

I thought it over. I couldn't let the Cullen family starve, of course, but Bella, Brandon, Aria, and Leo preferred the game that dwelled on the Cullens' side of the land Carlisle was suggesting. I would surely get a lot of complaints from my children about having five miles less of hunting ground. However, Dr. Cullen had been highly referenced to me when I had been looking for employees. I couldn't keep him in one of my hospitals if he and his family were unfed by my hand.

I gave a nod.

"You can have the five miles on your side. There is a creek that runs parallel to our homes. Any animal that passes over it will be free for our taking."

We shook on it.

"I ask that if we are anywhere outside of my hospital building that you call me Andrew. Mr. Aster is just too formal." I smirked.

"Then will you return the favor and call me Carlisle?"

"Carlisle it is."

Carlisle and Esme left, and as if on cue, Aria, Anais, and Bella walked into the kitchen.

"Who was that, Andrew?" Aria asked curiously.

"The leader of the Cullen coven. Now, I hope you enjoyed your hunt..."

* * *

**Jasper**

Esme delicately sat in the driver's seat. It had been a week since we had moved in. Today Carlisle was starting work at the hospital, and Esme was starting work as the art teacher at the high school. The only reason we were going early was because Esme had to get better acquainted with her classroom and we had to take a tour from the principal's daughter, Sofia or Sofie or something.

As we approached the high school, I noticed a girl standing alone in the parking lot. She was radiating annoyance, but when we stepped out of the car, her lust spiked and her heartbeat raced.

"Oh, great," She muttered under her breath. "More. As if Leo Aster wasn't bad enough."

Despite her obvious nervousness, she smiled at us.

"Hi. I'm Sofia. You must be the Cullens."

"That's right." Alice beamed at her.

"Cool! I'll give you a tour around the school, and you'll be back here by the time the rest of the students start pouring in. That way you get the opportunity to meet some new people. You _did _come right after winter break, after all."

Sofia gave us a briefing of all of the classrooms. Then, out of nowhere, she asked,

"Are you guys related to the Asters?"

"You mean Andrew Aster's family?" Rosalie smirked. "No."

"Oh." Sofia looked troubled. "It's just you look a lot like them..."

As promised, we were back at the parking lot as cars started pulling into the driveway. Again, we heard whispers from the students.

"I'll bet they're related to the Asters." One girl said to her friend. "Nobody can look that good and _not _be."

"They even have the gold eyes and everything." Her friend replied.

Well, that was unsettling. Carlisle had said nothing about another coven. Although, ever since Bella had left, Carlisle had a tendency to not tell us things. Maybe they weren't another coven? I doubted it; all signs were pointing to that.

We mostly stayed near Sofia, who relayed all of the clubs we could join.

"Basketball's open, even though our school's _super _late for tryouts. Rosalie, Alice, you can join volleyball, if you want. Cheer tryouts are already over. Piper used to be the cheer captain, but you should have _seen _the look on her face when Bella Aster took her spot!"

That name nearly gave me a heart attack, and vampires couldn't even _have _heart attacks. _Bella_. Apparently it opened fresh wounds for my siblings, as well. Emmett tensed up completely, and Rosalie's face fell, full of dejection and regret. Edward and Alice instinctively held the other's hand. Pure guilt was rolling off of them in waves.

Sofia must have noticed.

"Is something wrong?"

"Look out!" Rose shrieked and grabbed Sofia's wrist, then pulled her out of the way of a car. Whoever was driving drove like a Cullen.

"Finally!" Sofia sighed. "I thought it would never happen."

Five pairs of eyes questioned her sanity.

"Bella Aster drives like a maniac. She always comes straight towards me or some other person standing around, but she makes sure to miss. People don't even care anymore these days. It's like a ritual. That's what she's famous for, that and her good looks. And being the cheer captain." I could feel Sofia's jealousy.

"Swan! How many times have I told you to go under two hundred? Better yet, go under sixty!"

I froze. Swan? My eyes stayed glued to the door to the driver's seat. After what seemed like a thousand years, the door opened.

A girl stepped out. She was wearing a v-neck cheer uniform that bared her midriff, revealing a figure that could only belong to a vampire. Her silky chestnut hair was put up in a ponytail and tied off with an orange and black ribbon. She was much too small for the size of the car.

Four more people stepped out as the girl turned around. The emotions around me were so overwhelming I nearly fell to my knees.

"Sorry, Sofie! But you know what they say about me: Play like a Tiger, drive like an Aster!"

It wasn't her. It couldn't be her.

My Bella.

* * *

**I switched POVs three times. You now have permission to come after me with pitchforks and torches. -_-**

**This chapter was very fun to write. So, shall I make Jasper fight for his little Tinkerbell, or not? You should be seeing an update from me sooner or later. I'm not so evil as to leave all of you lovely reviewers with a cliffhanger for a month! :)**

**~Kit~**


	5. Remember Me, Remember Me Not

**Jasper**

Bella was stunning. Her beauty could give even Rosalie a run for her money. She had chestnut hair, perfectly styled into a ponytail tied off with an orange and black sparkly ribbon. Her orange, white, and black cheer uniform bared her midriff, and I could tell none of the boys around her minded. Her creamy legs stretched out for forever and a day beneath her orange and black skirt. She had pompoms in one hand, a sequined orange and black bag in the other.

"Sofi-girl, how many times have I told you?" Bella clicked her tongue in mock disapproval. "My last name's not Swan, it's Aster. Swan was my last name before I was adopted, you silly goose."

"I'll quit calling you Swan once you quit calling me 'Sofi-girl.'"

"Nope! Nada, no deal. Not a chance, Sofi-girl."

Bella was grinning. After all Edward and Alice had done to her, she was _grinning_.

I watched as she strode right past us, pushed Emmett aside, and waved her black and orange pompoms in Sofia's face with a giggle. Her siblings followed behind her. One had a basketball tucked under his arm, another girl had a cheer uniform on, as well. The small bronze-haired girl was wearing a baseball uniform.

The one with the basketball eyed Emmett, Edward and me with an approving gaze. Then he laughed.

"So, you're the Cullens? Andrew told us all about you. We moved here about three months ago. I'm Brandon. Are any of you trying out for basketball? The tryouts are next week."

We didn't answer, all of us still staring dumbfounded at Bella. Bella turned around.

"Hey! I'm Bella Aster. This little jerk here insists on calling me Swan, but it's Aster. Call me Swan and I'll break your arms off."

We didn't answer, and Bella cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Um, Anais? The squad's here." The blond whom I assumed was Anais looked over at a group of six girls gathering on the lawn in front of the school, then beckoned for Bella to come with her. They promptly started cheering as students came in.

"Yeesh," Brandon started speaking. "I know my sister's attractive, even for a vampire, but she's never rendered anyone speechless before." Brandon spoke 'even for a vampire' so quickly and quietly there was no chance Sofia could have heard.

"Sister?" Emmett said, the first one to snap out of his shocked state. He still seemed a little dazed, though.

"Yeah, sister. Bella's my twin sister. We're both seniors. That girl with her was Anais. These are Leo and Aria."

Leo and Aria smiled at us and raised their palms in greeting as they were introduced.

"Hello," I said cautiously. "So, you say Bella's former surname was Swan?"

Brandon nodded.

"I see." I said, turning back again to gaze at Bella. She was standing at the top of the human pyramid of six. As long as I'd known her, I would have never thought Bella would become a cheerleader. That brought up another question in my mind...

_As long as I'd known Bella._

How come she didn't seem to know me?

* * *

I was posing as a senior. My first class of the day was language arts... and I had it with a certain cheer captain.

The first thing I'd noticed was Bella and Brandon had a tendency to finish one another's sentences. No wonder they were pretending to be twins.

The second thing I noticed was that, when the teacher had drawn names for partners, he had drawn mine and Bella's. I was relieved at that, it would give me a chance to question her about what had happened out on the parking lot today. Heck, what had happened in the past hundred years.

However, the teacher, as if in a trance, slowly put my name back in the jar and drew another one. I could clearly see the name through the thin paper and the light: it was Zoey. The teacher said it was Brandon, though. This confused me to no end. I looked at Brandon, he was smirking at his 'sister' and he gave her a discreet high five.

After both class hours had ended, I quickly stood up and started walking to gym. Bella walked up next to me. I looked down at her small frame.

"Hey. You're, um... Jared, right?" She raised an eyebrow. "We were never introduced."

I was shocked.

"No, Bella. It's Jasper. Remember?"

Bella shook her head.

"I just met you today. My dad wants me to be friends with you guys, so I figured I'd give it a shot."

Her words hit me like a simultaneous punch in the gut, a slap in the face, and a strike of lightning. The slap and the punch were for the unbelievable hurt I felt; the lightning was realization. Was it possible she couldn't remember us? Could she really not remember Edward's harsh betrayal?

"Jasper? Are you okay?"

No. The one person I could have even hoped to identify with completely forgot about me. She completely forgot about my family. She couldn't even remember my name. There was a huge possibility she was in a relationship (although I had no idea why that mattered). After years of believing she was dead, she just comes back into my life, not caring if I live or die. To top it all off, we had no chance of getting her back.

"I'm fine." I say with a smile.

"Alright. You were quiet there for a while."

She nodded and flipped her hair. The small movement threw her scent towards me, and I exhaled in euphoria. She smelled delicious, like strawberries and cream, with a hint of vanilla and chocolate.

"...though Coach usually makes us play Capture the Flag. Not that I mind."

I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, were you saying something?"

She let out a silver-bell laugh, and I bathed in the sound.

"I was just saying what we were probably gonna do today in phys-ed. I'm betting on Capture the Flag, again, but I'd give anything for a good game of baseball."

"Baseball?" I asked, remembering when she had first watched us play baseball.

"Baseball. Aria's really into baseball, and she drags the entire family into a game whenever there's a thunderstorm."

"Really? Remember when—" I bit my tongue. Fortunately, she either wasn't paying attention or didn't care.

"Maybe I can make Coach let us play baseball today..." She mused.

"How are you gonna do that? Flirt your way out of Capture the Flag?" I teased. She shook her head, sending another wave of fragrance towards me.

"That's how I bust Brandon out of detention. No, I'm going to use my, um... mind control."

I stared at her incredulously. She was serious. She was dead serious.

"We're here." Bella opened the door to the gym, and headed off to the girls' locker room. I went to the boys'.

Brandon and Leo were already in there, having obviously heard our conversation outside the door. Emmett was there too, as he had this class with me.

"Hey Leo..." Brandon said.

"Yeah, Brandon?" Leo was trying not to laugh.

"I think this boy here's trying to hit on my little sister..."

The two of them cracked up. I rolled my eyes and changed.

Bella was already chatting with the coach, who was obviously taken by every word she was saying. I could hear her talking about playing something else instead of Capture the Flag, and I could feel the coach's uncertainty. I was about to give Bella a hand when the coach's emotions suddenly changed into enthusiasm.

This put me at unease.

Bella gave him an award winning smile, then walked over to Brandon, smirking.

"Too easy," She murmured into his ear. He stifled a laugh and shook his head. Leo, Brandon, and Bella were having a conversation on the other side of the gym. I could tell Emmett, who was sitting next to me, was itching to run over to her and give her one of those infamous bear hugs.

The coach finished telling us about the game of baseball we were going to play, and Emmett leapt up and ran over to Bella.

"Tinkerbell!" He yelled, arms open as he all but attacked her. Seeing a giant teenage boy running towards her, ready to jump her like he was, it must have been a terrifying sight for the poor girl.

I was right. Bella squeaked in terror and hid behind Leo and Brandon, who acted almost as her shield. Hurt flashed across Emmett's face, and he looked like he was about to say something, but the coach beat him to it.

"Why don't we have the new students choose the teams? Emmett, you're pitching, Jasper, you're batting." He tossed me the bat, and he passed Emmett the ball. Emmett still looked pained, but managed to catch it. He looked over to me, his eyes asking why Bella reacted like that. I shook my head, signaling I'd tell him later.

Emmett had chosen Bella on his team, along with several others, while I had Leo and Brandon. Emmett was too distraught to pitch though, so Bella had had to.

I noted how the Aster siblings had teased one another out on the field. It was endearing, actually, how they would 'insult' one another's pitching, batting, or running skills. Once, Bella had been playing as the shortstop, and Leo had told her she was finally living up to her nickname. Bella had responded by telling him to go steal back the hen's golden egg.

I heard a girl, Piper I was assuming, talking to Bella on the way into the locker rooms. From the way the jealousy rolled off of her, even as she complimented Bella, it wasn't that hard to tell.

"Your hair is _ah_-dorable today, Bells!" Piper batted her eyelashes.

"Mmhmm..." Bella hummed noncommittally, unimpressed and unbelieving. She was feeling annoyed by Piper. If that was how Piper always talked, I'd be annoyed, too.

Bella sped up to match Brandon and Leo's strides.

"_Those _are the kids Andrew and Liz want us to be friends with?" She asked wearily, underestimating our hearing. She turned enough to watch us out of the corner of her eye. I could feel Emmett tense up next to me.

"Yeah." Brandon frowned. "Just 'cause they're vampires too Andrew thinks we need to be 'best buddies.'"

"They seem really interested in you, Silverbell." Leo said.

"No, that's not it. I feel like I've seen them before..." Bella said, furrowing her eyebrows and turning back around. "But I don't remember where."

* * *

Emmett and I watched as Bella and Brandon headed off to fourth hour science. Once they were out of earshot, Emmett turned to me.

"What the heck was that?"

"What was what?"

"What do you mean, 'what was what?' Bella completely hid from me!" Emmett looked like a kicked puppy as he spoke this.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. This would be hard to explain. To avoid the question, I looked down at my schedule. Art class with 'Mrs. Cullen.' Good. I could tell Esme about this little happening. She always seemed to know how to explain things, so she could tell the family later.

I walked away from Emmett without a word, and headed down to the art room.

When I got there, Rose was already talking to Esme. From the excitement Esme was projecting, they were talking about Bella. Their eyes fell on me.

"Is it true Jasper? Is it true?" Esme looked like a child on Christmas. "Is Bella really alive?"

"Yes." I said. "Bella's alive. Although, I hate to be the one to break it to you, Esme... She doesn't remember us."

Esme's face fell. Rosalie looked confused. I heard the door open behind us.

"She doesn't... remember?" I felt a thousand times more guilty as Esme tried to comprehend what I had just told her. "But..."

Rosalie looked as upset as Esme.

"Hang on, how much doesn't she remember?"

"As far as I know, she only remembers her name, her age, and small little parts of her human life."

"But we weren't a small part of her human life." Rosalie added. I nodded, and Rosalie looked disappointed, though a little bit relieved.

"So Bella forgot Edward cheated on her?"

Before I could answer, a strangled gasp behind me made me turn around. I froze.

There stood Anais, staring at all of us with wide eyes.

"Edward... did... what?" She squeaked. I exchanged a look with Rose. She obviously understood as well as I did the extremity of the situation we were in. Fortunately, it was Esme to the rescue.

"Please, dear. Don't tell Bella."

Anais stood up straight and stared us straight in the eyes.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't. My sister deserves to know, just like this 'Edward' person deserves a beating."

Esme looked terrified.

"You know that if Bella finds out," I started. "She will give Edward so much more than a beating. And I doubt you want our entire family after your own if you cause Edward's death."

Anais frowned. I could tell she knew I was speaking the truth. I could see where she was coming from, though; Bella _did _deserve to know. It wasn't the time yet. Finally, Anais scowled in defeat.

"Fine!" She growled. "I won't tell Bella... for now."

"How do we know you mean that?"

Anais smiled coldly.

"You don't. Looks like you'll just have to take my word for it and trust me."

With that, Anais indignantly turned on her heel with a huff and stomped out the door, leaving us to ponder the truth behind her words.

* * *

**Oh noes! Will Anais tell, or not?**

**Don't worry, I don't plan on making her the bad guy. I don't plan on making _any _of the Asters the villains, for that matter. 0_0**

**You know, I'm really having too much fun with this story. So much fun, in fact, I'm having a hard time tearing myself away from it and working on my other story, Snowed In. Rawr. Well, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! :) **

**~Kit~**


	6. A Visit, A Visit Not

**Jasper**

As I relayed the incident to my family over lunch, I saw Anais out of the corner of my eye. I gazed at her wearily, and she tried her best not to shoot us her dirtiest look.

She walked up to Bella, said something quietly, then left. Bella looked a little confused. I almost panicked, so I listened in to her conversation with Aria as she grabbed an apple.

"Anais is going home. We're going to say she got sick and left."

"That's it then?" Aria tilted her head quizzically. "She's just leaving?"

Bella shrugged.

"Sometimes school gets too boring for me, too."

Aria laughed. They wandered over to their lunch table where Leo and Brandon were sitting.

"Hey!" Leo smirked at the girls. "Where's Annie?"

"You know she hates it when you call her that, Leo." Bella said. "And to answer your question, Anais left. She got too bored with school or something."

"Cool. Now what was the real reason?" Brandon deadpanned. Bella blinked.

"Umm... She looked pretty serious."

"From this angle it didn't look like it. She looked crazy nervous from back here." Brandon raised an eyebrow at his 'sister,' who shrugged. "Please, Bella. You know how seriously Anais takes school, even though she's gone to high school for ten lifetimes worth."

"Well, I don't know _what _the real reason was."

Brandon nodded, even though he didn't look convinced. He turned back to Leo and started talking about how Andrew had just handed their hunting land to 'some guy.' I rolled my eyes. Brandon knew as well as I did that this 'some guy' was Carlisle, though he seemed to have forgotten that we were Carlisle's kids.

"Jasper?" Rosalie waved a hand in front of my face. "You there?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes." I forced a smile which Rosalie didn't buy. I was about to reassure her when the bell rang.

I turned my gaze back to Bella, only to find she was long gone.

* * *

The rest of the day dragged on for what seemed like forever. The only classes I had with any of the Asters were my morning classes: first, second, third, and fourth hours.

I tapped my foot restlessly as the eighth hour science teacher droned on and on about material I already knew. I sighed, tapped my pencil on my desk, and glanced up at the clock again. There were only five more minutes until the bell rang and I would be free to go and confront Bella. Those were the longest five minutes of my existence.

Finally, the bell rang. I stood up abruptly, ignoring the teacher calling after the class reminding us to do page three-hundred forty-seven of our textbook.

I hastily gathered my books and notes from my locker and ran outside. The parking lot was completely empty. Well, at least I had managed to catch up with the Asters.

Brandon and Emmett were arguing rather loudly in front of Leo's car. Aria had latched on to Brandon's arm and was trying to pull him away, while Rosalie was doing the same thing with Emmett. Leo looked as if he were trying to stay away from the fight, but was itching to punch Emmett in the face. From the looks of things, he would soon. Alice and Edward were standing uncertainly on the edge of the argument. Anais and Bella were nowhere to be found. I only caught bits and pieces of the argument as I jogged over to the car.

"I swear! We had nothing to do with it!" That was Brandon.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?" Emmett growled and cracked his knuckles.

"Yes! I have no idea what you're talking about. We didn't do _anything _to Bella but change her when we found her half dead in an alley!" Brandon's patience was wearing thin. Emmett could be pretty scary when he wanted tried to be.

"Em, stop it..." Rosalie tugged Emmett's arm, but Emmett snarled at her and shook her off. Rosalie backed away with a scowl.

"No! They wiped Bella's memory!"

"We did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"Stop it, Emmett..." Rosalie said.

"Yeah, she's right. Go home and quit bothering us. Don't make your little girlfriend protect you any longer." Leo barked. This time, Rosalie growled and dropped into the defensive crouch with Alice and Edward. However, Emmett lost his temper more easily.

The next four seconds were a blur.

The first second, my mind registered Emmett lunging at Leo.

The second second, I saw Leo push Emmett off of him and throw him straight into Rosalie, Alice and Edward.

The third second, I heard an inhuman roar come from somewhere behind me as my family stood back up and got in the offensive position.

The fourth second, my siblings' knees buckled and they all fell to the ground as if they were dead.

I turned around to see Bella seething with rage. Her eyes were pitch black in fury. In that moment, I saw my 'life' flash before my eyes. The only reason I wasn't dead right now or writhing on the ground like Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, or Edward, was because I hadn't attacked. I realized Bella wasn't fooling around; she would tear my head off if I so much as laid a hand on any of her family members' heads. I must have been trembling.

Bella wasn't scary. Bella wasn't intimidating. Bella was so much more petrifying and so much more deadly than anything I'd ever encountered, and she knew it.

I choked on my apology. By now, Alice had started to get up.

"What did you... what did you do?" I asked with a noise similar to a squawk.

"I only sent their worst nightmares into their heads, a lot like what Jane can do, only... better." She purred. "I can make them do whatever I want, all at the same time."

So that was her power. Mind control. She wasn't limited only to pain illusion. All she had to do was push thoughts of pain into anyone's mind, and they would feel it? There was another reason to keep Edward's infidelity away from her. If she found out, she could make us do something terrible, like killing Edward or Alice. If that were to happen, Esme and Carlisle would be devastated...

"Get up!" Bella snarled at my brothers and sisters. They slowly started to stand.

"Bella?" Alice prompted timidly.

Bella ignored her, of course. Without tearing her eyes away from us, she spoke gruffly to Aria.

"Ari, get Brandon and Leo in the car and _go home_."

"But, Bella—"

"Go. I'll run home."

Aria looked uncertain, but rounded up her brothers and all but threw them into the car. As soon as the rest of her family sped away, Bella stomped forward and jabbed a finger in Emmett's face.

"You. You look like the instigator, here. So I'm going to give you a warning. If you so much as _talk _to my siblings, _look _at my siblings, or, for good measure, even _think _of my siblings, I will tear you apart piece by piece and dance around your burning pyre. Do I make myself clear?"

Emmett backpedaled.

"And all of you." Bella turned on the rest of us. "That goes for you, too. _Nobody _hurts my family and walks away unscathed, and all of you pathetic excuses for vampires are no different."

We all looked down in shame. Not from her words, but because we had caused this. We had to accept what she was telling us, because if it weren't for us, she'd be resting peacefully in the earth by now, surrounded by her father, her mother, her would-be husband, and her mourning grandchildren. It was our fault her life had become so complicated. We were as guilty as Edward and Alice were.

Obviously satisfied with her tirade, Bella turned and ran out into the forest.

That was the moment I truly accepted we weren't getting Bella Swan back... for good.

* * *

**Bella**

As I ran and cleared my head and my eyes reverted back to gold, the first pangs of guilt started rolling in. Of course, maybe I was angry they had attacked Leo. Anybody would be. But I was starting to think I laid it on a little too thick. It was obvious that the tall, burly one was mates with the blond female. Leo had sort of asked for it.

My confrontation seemed a bit harsh, although I needed to make sure they understood I would not tolerate any threats to me or my family. I owed my life to Andrew and the others, and there was nothing I wouldn't do to protect them.

My thoughts were cut short when I tripped over a log. Going at seventy-something miles an hour without even paying attention to my surroundings made for a pretty nasty fall. Now I could go down in history as the world's only clumsy vampire. I glared at the offending log and then looked around at where I was.

Where was this place? It was a lovely meadow, with a stream running on the far end and lavenders dotting the grassy field. It reminded me a little of a waterfall pool I had found back in Newport a few months ago.

I vaguely remembered crossing the Columbia River, so I had to be in Washington. I listened closely. Was that the sound of waves?

I left the meadow and looked around for any signs of life. Sure enough, I found a small little town bustling with people. I ignored the stares I received and walked into a restaurant.

"Excuse me, sir." I asked the maître d', whose mouth dropped open once he got a look at me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Would you please tell me what town I'm in?"

"F-F-Forks?"

"Ah. Thank you." I walked back out. Forks. That was a strange name. I walked back to the clearing.

Something was bothering me as I arrived. It felt as if I had been here before...

I was on my knees, clutching my head. Andrew had said there would be times I would have flashbacks of my human life. This was the first time it had ever happened. I heard a voice with a distinct Southern accent, although his words were slurred and unclear.

"Don''t let them get their arms around you..."

I heard another voice, this one slightly more masculine and gruff.

"She broke her hand punching my face..."

The last one was a female. Her tone was high and soprano.

"Bella, wait! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

The voices and the faces disappeared. Although I supposed I couldn't call them faces, since they all more or less resembled a plate of mashed potatoes.

As I stood back up, I tried again to conjure the images. It didn't work, of course. I growled in frustration, then abruptly turned and ran out of the clearing and back home.

* * *

**The next chapter will focus on ****** ** * *****. Haha! You didn't think I'd actually spoil it did you? ****^_^ I'm just teasing, everyone.**

**What? What are you talking about? I totally know what to do for the next chapter... Oh, ye of little faith. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! If you have any suggestions for my story, feel free to tell me. I'll try to incorporate it into the plot as best I can. :) Until next time,**

**~Kit~**


	7. Hate Me, Hate Me Not

**Jasper**

Carlisle rubbed his temples and sighed in a very humanlike manner. He seemed dazed. Esme gently massaged between his shoulderblades, also seemingly at a loss for words.

"I can't... I don't... It was so unlikely..." Carlisle sighed again and gave up trying to form a coherent sentence.

"You mean she straight out threatened you?" Esme asked sadly.

"Yes." Emmett looked down in shame. "It was my fault. I attacked Leo too easily."

Esme nodded.

"It's alright, son. You were provoked. However, next time, do you think you can solve the situation without the use of violence?"

"Yeah..." Emmett mumbled.

"I knew Andrew Aster had a child named Bella, but I didn't realize she was _our _Bella." Carlisle ran a hand through his hair laboriously. "Jasper, you said she could do what?"

"Something along the lines of mind control. I heard her siblings saying things like 'telepathic manipulation.'"

Carlisle appeared lost in thought.

"I have heard of a coven in Australia with a member who can do something like this. Although I have never met him personally, he is powerful. Tanya has met him, and has told me he doesn't abuse his power. We can only hope Bella will do the same. This should mess things up quite a bit..."

My head snapped up, as did everyone else's.

"What? What are you talking about, Carlisle?" Edward asked.

"The Asters are coming over."

"What?" Everyone jumped to their feet. "Why?"

"I figured we needed to better know the other vampires in the area."

"Carlisle!" Rosalie looked terrified. "What if Bella—"

The doorbell rang, sending everyone into a panic.

"Get the blindfold! The blindfold! Remember, don't think of Bella's siblings!" Emmett yelped, remembering Bella's earlier threat. Carlisle rolled his eyes and went to the door.

Andrew Aster stood with his wife, smiling amusedly. He obviously had heard of Bella's less-than-friendly intimidation. It appeared he had also heard the chaos that had ensued before he had walked into the room. His disgruntled children cautiously followed, warily eyeing their surroundings. Each of them were projecting mistrust, while Andrew and Elizabeth looked completely at ease.

"Hello." Andrew smirked. "My daughter has something to say."

Bella sighed in defeat. She folded her arms.

"I'm sorry." She grumbled.

"Aww, it's alright, Tinkerbell!" Emmett had torn off his blindfold and engulfed Bella in a hug. She squirmed and didn't return the hug. Although she didn't push away, she tensed up completely. At least that was something.

Andrew's smirk grew. This guy was a businessman? He seemed so casually easygoing it was hard to think of him firing people or at the business meetings.

"You must be Emmett."

Emmett looked surprised.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

"Carlisle told me all of your names before we came here. That, and you look like an Emmett."

"Oh." Emmett grinned.

Esme greeted Elizabeth and each of the Aster siblings, and she stopped in front of Bella. Bella coughed nervously as Esme studied her. Finally, Esme pulled Bella into a gentle hug. Bella's hand quickly rested on Esme's back, then she pulled away. If she could still blush, she probably would be right now.

"I'm Esme." Esme said softly. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

The Aster siblings mumbled a greeting in return.

Carlisle did the same, without the hug. Instead, he held out his hand for Bella to shake.

"Hello. I'm Carlisle."

Bella flickered her gaze from Carlisle's hand up to his face.

"That was funny. What's your real name?" She deadpanned.

Carlisle frowned.

"That _is _my real name."

"You're serious? How do you spell it?"

"C-A-R-L-I-S-L-E. Carlisle."

Bella was snorting in an effort not to laugh.

"You _do _realize in French, that literally translates to 'Carl's island,' right?"

Carlisle's frown grew deeper.

"Bella!" Elizabeth chastised.

"What?" Bella batted her eyes innocently. I stifled a laugh. She obviously still didn't completely forgive us for attacking Leo." I knew I wouldn't, not this quickly.

"Aww, are you still mad at us for trying to kill Leo, Teddy-bell?" Emmett prodded.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Anais quipped haughtily from the back. This was the first I had seen of her since the Asters had come.

Rosalie growled from somewhere behind me. Anais growled right back.

I don't know how long we stood there, but eventually Rosalie tore her glare away from Anais. Andrew gently reprimanded Anais.

"Anais, I'm sure Bella can speak for herself whether she's angry or not."

Anais's eyes turned black, a reaction I wasn't expecting.

"I honestly don't even see what we're doing here! I'm leaving." With that, she stormed out of the house. Bella shot our family an annoyed glance, than chased after her sister.

* * *

**Bella**

"Anais!" I called. "Anais, wait!" Fortunately, I was the fastest in the family. I managed to tackle Anais and we fell to the ground in a jumbled heap.

"Don't try to take me back, Bella." She said, fuming. "Besides, I wasn't leaving permanently. I just need time to cool off."

"I know," I said. "I know a place where you can do that."

"You do?"

"Yeah. I ran off earlier today and ended up in a town in Washington. It was called Forks. There was a cute little meadow on the outskirts of the town. I didn't get time to explore it, but—"

"Take me there." Anais interrupted. I nodded my consent, and we were in the meadow in about fifteen minutes.

"Wow." Anais remarked as we arrived, genuinely impressed. "Look at all the wildflowers!"

When it came to gardening, Anais had as big of a green thumb as Elizabeth did. Anais had helped Liz plant the flowers in front of our house, the same flowers that rendered every visitor speechless. Andrew had always joked Anais could grow anything in any weather, and none of us had argued. Our nicknames for Anais and Liz were Persephone and Demeter.

Anais looked around, reciting all the names and characteristics of the flowers in the meadow.

"Want to look around, An?" I asked her. She reluctantly turned her gaze away from a flower and nodded. We wandered for a while, until Anais stopped me.

"Check this out, Bells."

I turned to look where she was pointing.

There was a faint carving in one of the trees around us.

"EC+BS..." I read aloud. "Wonder what that stands for."

"Apparently someone lived here before. Let's see if we can find their house."

I could see the fire in Anais's eyes now. She had always been the curious type, and now was not an exception. She marched forward.

We hadn't even gotten a hundred feet away when the foliage revealed a paved driveway. Sure enough, it had been worn down from use.

As we followed the road, Anais gasped.

"Check out that house, Bella!" She jogged onto the porch and peered into the window.

"Anais, wait! I don't want to disturb anyone."

"It's alright." She said confidently. "No one lives here. There's furniture and stuff, but it's all dusty."

"I still don't think—" Anais cut me off by delivering a roundhouse kick to the door that threw it off one of its hinges. It was now crookedly open, but that seemed good enough for her. She stepped through the hole and into the musky house.

"Yup. It's vacant." Anais said, wrinkling her nose at the woodsy smell.

"Whoever lived here could have at least taken care of it..." I commented, giving up completely on arguing with her.

"Please. They're probably already dead."

"I suppose."

I waved away a moth that had flitted across my face. Anais took a few lithe steps forward, as if she was afraid the floor would crumble beneath her feet. She looked around in awe at the large house, then bounded to the left. I followed.

"Nothing interesting here." She headed back out of the kitchen, disinterested. I curiously opened the cupboard, and slammed the door shut with a shriek as a spider the size of a gorilla scurried towards me. I flitted back to Anais, who was scrutinizing a painting in the foyer.

"Bella, look. They're portraits of people, all in one painting. I'm betting this was the house of a family. But the painting's so covered in dust I can't see."

"Let me try." I rubbed at the painting, then gave up. I didn't want to rip through the canvas. I exhaled in frustration. "Come on, An, let's go upstairs."

We jumped to the top of the stairs and walked down the hallway. We looked into the first room.

"Nice!" Anais said, running her fingers along the keys of a grand piano. "Aria would love this. It's a Steinway and Sons."

We went into the second room.

"A bedroom." I said. I walked to a door inside the bedroom and opened it. "Let's see... Men's clothing, and women's, as well. This was probably the parents' room."

The next bedroom had a bit more of a Western theme, with wood and leather here and there.

We went through two more bedrooms indifferently, checking the closets to see who occupied the space.

The last bedroom was definitely the best room in the house. The far wall was made entirely of glass. The color scheme was a bit bland though: blue, beige, brown, and white. Not the most fun. We did the routine closet check, and Anais just about fainted.

There were clothes, shoes, and accessories as far as the eye could see. When we went to the other side of one of the shelves, there were even more. I didn't see what the big deal was. Anais had more clothing than this.

She flounced over to the male clothing.

"Abercrombie and Fitch!" She said. "Whoever this guy was, he had a good sense of style. Hang on, they say the A&F smell can last for over a hundred years. Let's see if it's true." She brought the sleeve to her nose. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, Anais. That's just a myth."

Her eyes flashed a murderous black.

"What? All I said was—"

"No, no. It's not that." She said. "Here." She held the sleeve in front of my face. I took a tentative sniff, and growled.

"Cullen."

* * *

**To all the Carlisle lovers: I'm sorry! T_T I always thought the name 'Carlisle' was weird, so I just had to get my two bits in right there. :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm not exactly proud of it, but you know. Whatever, I've got to introduce her to the rest of the Cullens _somehow_.**

**~Kit~ **


	8. Ask Me, Ask Me Not

**Jasper**

Bella and Anais hadn't come to school the next day. Or the day after. This cycle continued, and before we knew it, it was the weekend, and there still hadn't been any sign of Anais or Bella.

We had tried asking Brandon and Leo, but they would just glare at us and not answer. Aria was more forgiving; she ventured so far as to have conversations with us. At first, she had only looked at us with understanding eyes full of pity, but soon, she would have chats with us every now and then.

"Bella's in Forks," Aria had said when we had asked. "She came back with Anais a couple of days ago, then they went to this town called Forks. It's in Washington, I think."

I had exchanged a look of panic with my siblings. During lunch, Alice looked into the future and told us Bella would be fine; or, in other words, Bella wouldn't figure out the secret we were keeping from her.

So here I was, hunting. It was a pleasant Saturday, cloudy, but not too cold. I was competing with Emmett to see who could catch the biggest bear. I had found one, and was chasing it persistently. Emmett was hot on my heels. I was finally about to catch up to the bear...

A blowing force rammed into my side, moving so fast it was a blur.

"Emmett!"

Emmett pushed me into a tree, sending birds all over the place. I grabbed his leg and flipped him, but he landed deftly with one leg extended to the side, and the other bent beneath him in the stereotypical 'spy pose.' Too quickly for me to see more than a blur, he pivoted on his foot and kicked my ankles, then backflipped, kicking me in the chin in the process.

Since when was Emmett this agile?

Emmett clawed at me relentlessly, growling like a maniac. I finally managed to grab his wrist and throw him into a tree. He let out a rather girlish shout. I would have laughed if I wasn't so angry he had tried to kill me over a bear. As he fell, I latched onto his throat and pinned him onto the ground, then set a knee on his stomach. I opened my mouth to shout at him, but shut it once my mind registered exactly who was trapped beneath me... because it certainly wasn't Emmett.

Bella stared up at me with a shocked expression on her face, her hands on my chest, as if to push me off. Her dark hair fanned behind her like the waterfalls of a chocolate fountain. My own hands were on either side of her, effectively caging her. I heard Emmett laugh from somewhere next to me. Bella and I snapped our heads towards him. He was busy draining the bear that had started this entire mess. Once he finished, he took another look at us, whistled, and pulled out his phone. He took a quick picture, then smirked.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." With that, he ran off, laughing to himself.

As soon as Emmett left, Bella's siblings took his place. I understood what this must have looked like. Only then did I realize that I was straddling her in a rather suggestive position.

Brandon looked torn between attacking me and laughing his sparkly self into oblivion. He eventually gave in with a snicker, then he was full out bursting into laughter. Leo and Anais were in stitches, leaning against the trees. Aria was giggling behind her hand.

Bella looked up at me. She obviously realized how bad this situation was for the both of us. Bella probably wouldn't hear the end of quips, and Emmett was probably already home, showing everyone the picture. Bella's and my surprised look wouldn't help matters. Even Carlisle and Esme would tease us.

Leo calmed down for long enough to whistle, just like Emmett had only moments earlier.

"Well, then, Bells. If you told us that _this _was the reason you told us to stay away from the Cullens, we would have listened."

"No! No! I meant what I said because—"

"Because you didn't want us to find out what you were doing with your boyfriend?" Anais said, puckering her lips and imitating a kiss. Leo high fived her.

"No!"

"So she admits it!" Brandon said with a mischievous smirk. I felt like a horrible person for admitting it, but it was a bit funny how Bella's siblings were ganging up on her. I tried to hide my grin. That wouldn't help matters. "Don't worry, little sis, we'll leave you alone, right after..." Brandon took a picture with his phone, clicked his tongue, and ran back to his house.

"Now don't you two have _too _much fun!" Leo said with a grin and a wave.

"I'm just glad we interrupted right now not later..." Anais said, raising an eyebrow teasingly. She grabbed Leo's wrist and the two of them raced back. Bella gazed after them helplessly.

"Wait, no! Come back! This isn't what it looks like! Don't leave me alone with him!"

Aria smiled softly at us.

"Don't worry. I'll restrain Andrew from biting Jasper's head off once he finds out about your new boyfriend."

"Oh, thank you so— hey!" Bella yelled indignantly as Aria giggled and followed her brothers and sister.

Bella scowled. She looked me in the eye and gently pushed me off. She sat up and propped her head on her knee.

"What were you doing on our land?"

"_Your _land?" I looked behind me. Sure enough, I was a few steps away from the creek, on the Aster side. Bella nodded.

"Our land. The bear crossed over to our side, so he was officially ours."

"Well, ma'am, if you take a good look, he's lying right there, dead in the water."

"So?"

"So, Emmett killed him in the creek. Technically the bear was still ours, since he had entered the creek from our side."

"Well yeah," Bella was sitting in a tree now. "But the bear was crossing over to our side. So he was actually ours."

"No use crying over spilled milk, I suppose." I said, climbing up to the branch and sitting next to her.

"I suppose. Andrew shouldn't have given those five miles to Carlisle." Bella said, being sure to pronounce the 's.'

"If he hadn't, we would have died here. And the 's' is silent."

We sat there in an awkward silence, both of us glaring at the offending bear.

"How did you do that?" Bella asked, tearing her brilliant gold eyes away from the grizzly and focusing them on me.

"Do what?" I asked.

"How did you beat me? I mean, even Leo can't take me down."

If she didn't even remember me, there was no way she would remember the story I had told her only a few weeks before she had left. No doubt she noticed my scars, though she hadn't asked about them and didn't know the tale behind them. But this was the closest thing to friendship I had earned with Bella, even during her human life. I wasn't about to scare her off by some freak story about the vampire Civil War.

"That's a story for another day," I said, leaving no room for argument. "Now I have a question for you. How did you become a blur like that, even for a vampire?"

"I'm the fastest one in my family." She said proudly. "Since we're apparently playing twenty questions, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked quizzically.

"I was a jerk to you guys."

I shrugged.

"You reacted like anyone would in that situation. As long as you feel sorry for it now, it doesn't matter that it happened." I reassured.

She smiled gratefully at me, and I smiled back and continued.

"Now... I'm assuming it's my turn to ask a question. Favorite color?" I asked expectantly.

"Green. Favorite subject?" She pushed her hair back as she asked.

"History. Favorite sport, other than cheer?"

"Baseball. Age when turned?"

"Twenty. How about you?"

"Eighteen. What year were you turned in?"

So Bella had been turned in the same year she had left.

"Jasper?" She asked.

"1863. Favorite music?"

"Guitar music."

"Really? I can play for you sometime, if you want."

Bella smiled and accepted my offer.

We talked on the tree branch until the sun started to set. Bella smiled radiantly as I helped her down.

"Thanks, Jasper. See you at school on Monday."

"Yeah. See you." I gazed after her as she waved and turned. Her curls bouncing as she walked, her hips swaying as she hummed a calming tune... "Bella."

She turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Would you like to come to Portland with me next week? As friends, of course, I'd hate to make you uncomfortable." I asked, biting my tongue after I realized what I had just said.

Fortunately, Bella's eyes softened.

"I'd like that. Just give me a call and you can tell me the details later."

"What's your number?"

She recited her number to me, then bade me goodbye.

Against the laws of romance, I hoped she wouldn't look back. If she did, she would see me standing there, grinning like an idiot.

* * *

I arrived home to a scene a few floats and dancers short of a parade.

Rosalie was the first to sling her arm around my shoulder. I looked down at her, startled. She led me into the kitchen, where everyone looked up at me with a grin.

"Jazz-man!" Emmett said. "I took it upon myself to get the photo of you and Teddy-bell developed and framed. Here." He handed me the picture of Bella and me in the woods. I glared at him evilly. It didn't work, apparently. He just started laughing while Edward, Alice, and Rosalie snickered.

"Jasper, son," Carlisle started. "I need to tell me honestly. You didn't... take advantage of Bella, did you?"

I stared at him, horrified. A smile started to curve the corners of his lips upward.

"No!" I choked.

"Good!" Rosalie said, smirking mischievously. "You've been gone for three hours. We were starting to think you rented a hotel room."

"Why would I need..." I trailed off as the realization hit me. "You're all crazy!"

They all laughed lightly.

"Relax, Jasper. We're only kidding." Alice timidly turned to me and smiled.

For the first time in a century, I smiled back.

* * *

**Three updates in one day! ( 0)_ (0 ) That one's got to be a new record for me. If only I could update this fast on all my other stories... I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! And I hope I didn't overwhelm you with the multiple updates. -_-**

**~Kit~**


	9. An Answer, An Answer Not

**Jasper**

Saturday didn't come quickly enough. I would talk with Bella every chance I got, relearning every single thing I had thought I'd known about her.

Her favorite book was Wuthering Heights. She absolutely adored her siblings. She wanted to learn the cello. Her favorite store in the mall was Forever 21, although she liked Burberry, too. If she got the chance to pick, though, she'd rather go to the nearest department store. Out of all the animals she'd hunted, she preferred bears. She liked convertibles because she loved feeling the sun on her cold skin. Her favorite season was winter. She loved the ocean. She'd always wanted a Golden Retriever, but had been too afraid Leo would eat it. Her favorite holiday was Earth Day. If she could go back in time, she would meet Cleopatra. Her favorite school subject was language arts.

The more I learned about her, the more intrigued I was. Each question led to another. Her favorite movie was Forrest Gump— what was her favorite scene? She hated spiders— what was the worst kind?

As I drank in the information she fed, the days became too short. Fortunately, that only made the wait for Saturday shorter.

We had decided I would pick her up, and we would make the short drive to Portland. We would leave at ten, then arrive at twelve. We would look around, and be home by eight.

I walked through the lunch line with Bella on Friday, still keeping up our game of twenty questions. By this point, however, it had probably reached twenty-thousand questions.

"I'm excited for tomorrow. What are we going to do?" Bella asked curiously.

"I've got a pretty good— mmph!" Emmett called from our table, until Rosalie clamped a hand over his mouth. The smacking sound echoed through the room, making the cafeteria go silent for a moment. I glared at my family.

"Please excuse Emmett." I said quickly. "There's a mall there. Lloyd Center. They have an ice rink, maybe we could go later on in the day."

"That'd be nice." Bella said shortly.

"You know what else would be nice?" Brandon called. Aria smacked him upside the head before he could continue.

I shook my head fondly. For the past week, our siblings had been teasing us to no end. There was no more friction, and our families actually got along quite well, now. We all sat at the same lunch table, where the girls would talk about shopping and things like that. Strangely, Anais and Rosalie had started to become the best of friends. The same went for Emmett and Leo, who had managed to laugh about Emmett's attack. Edward and I would often join in on their conversations and arm wrestling matches.

"So, Lloyd Center it is, then?" Bella said, indifferently analyzing an apple. She set it on her tray and walked down the line.

"Yes," I said. "But we can look around Portland when we get there."

"Brandon and Emmett said they have good ideas. Maybe we could ask them."

I remained silent. She had obviously missed their innuendoes.

"I get the feeling you won't like what they have to say." I said at last. She raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and looked back and grabbed a tray of french fries. She walked to the table and started talking with Alice about some new line of clothing.

I spun a french fry impatiently as Emmett and Leo were going at another arm wrestling match. My eyes shifted around the lunch room to the different tables.

The self-proclaimed 'nerds' were discussing different movies and the graphics of those. The basketball team, minus Brandon, were all sitting at another table, passing a basketball around. Since Anais and Bella were sitting over here, and one of the cheerleaders were flirting with a basketball team, the remaining three cheerleaders were leaning against a wall, texting. The 'clones' sat at a table giggling. The clones were a group where everyone looked the same, with makeup piled on their faces. The would-be preps were sitting around a table, subtly dropping hints as to how 'rich' they were. The goths were in the corner, reading poetry to one another. The drama queens were gushing over an orange again.

I sighed apathetically. Although I generally didn't like labels, this was a stereotypical high school, the kind with the catty girls and the athletic boys.

"Hey, Bella!"

Bella gritted her teeth and stiffly turned her head to a particularly determined human boy who'd been pestering her ever since she had come.

"Zach."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." She said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, come on, something's going on!" He said. I'm sure he meant to be flirting, but he came across as more clingy.

"Go away."

"Don't be like—"

Bella closed her eyes and turned to Rosalie. Then, rather loudly, she smiled innocently, and asked,

"Rosalie, do you want to go bra shopping tomorrow?"

Zach blushed furiously.

"You know what, I think I'm gonna go."

He scurried off, mumbling to himself. Rosalie smirked and high fived Bella.

"Genius." Rose said.

"He won't be talking to me for a while," Bella said with a grin.

We all picked at our food and talked and laughed for the rest of the lunch hour. Once Bella and I had parted ways, however, it was back to counting down the seconds until Saturday.

* * *

I wished I could sleep. That would make the night so much easier. Instead, I opted for lying down on my normally untouched bed and throwing a baseball and catching it. The constant, fluid motion made the hours seem so much shorter. Up and down, and up and down, and up and down...

The sun was starting to rise.

And up and down, and up and down, and up and down...

It was eight o'clock.

And up and down, and up and down, and up and down...

It was nine. I got up and changed into a button up shirt and jeans, then put on my tennis shoes and went out for a hunt. I briefly contemplated stepping over the boundary line to see if Bella was up. I decided against it, though.

Finally, it was 9:45. I took the white convertible, remembering how much she loved those, and drove to the Aster estate. I rapped on the door.

Bella opened the door and smiled. She was in a backless, draped pink top with a ribbon in the back. She had on pastel blue shorts and pink heels_(1)_. Her hair was in a braided over her shoulder. Pink framed sunglasses rested on her head. She smiled._  
_

"Hey, Jasper."

"Hello, Bella. All set?"

"Yeah. Liz, Andrew! I'm going out, I'll be back by eight!"

Within a few minutes, Bella and I were speeding down the freeway, on our way to Portland.

* * *

Fortunately, the day was cloudy. We went to the zoo and the science museum, and made it to Lloyd Center by two.

"Stupid, ridiculous parking." Bella said as she locked the door.

"Maybe you shouldn't have made me give up the driver's seat," I teased.

"As if you could do any better."

"You drive like a maniac!"

Bella attempted to glare at me, but failed miserably.

"This better be worth it, Hale."

It was worth it. We went to Bella's favorite store, where she bought thousands of dollars worth in clothing and jewelry. We walked around the mall for a little while longer, talking and laughing.

"Look at that, Jasper!" We were on a bridge on the second floor. Directly beneath us was an ice rink. A giant painting of a rose was in the center. I looked at Bella.

"Do you want to go skating?"

Bella nodded.

"I've always wanted to, but never get the chance."

I took Bella to the first floor and paid for our tickets to skate. The salesperson strapped the bracelets around our wrists, then directed us to where we could rent some ice skates. We strapped on the skates and stepped gracefully onto the ice. I did, at least. Bella immediately lost her balance.

I caught her and raised an eyebrow.

"You're probably the only clumsy vampire in history."

Bella huffed.

"Well, I'm on ice. Cut me some slack."

"Here." I wrapped one arm around her waist and set the other on her shoulder. She growled as she fell forward, then back. I chuckled. "Changing your mind?"

"No."

Bella was a fast learner. Soon enough, she was going faster than I was. She beamed triumphantly as she made it around the ring for what had to be the twentieth time. I smiled back and sent her a little bit of my pride, which of course, made her smile grow.

"Good job." I praised as we stepped out of the rink. I placed my hand on the small of her back and she gasped, promptly falling over.

* * *

**Bella**

There it was again.

As soon as I felt Jasper's touch through the fabric of my shirt, another round of memories flashed through my head.

_I couldn't exactly tell where I was, but it was a very busy place. Judging from the number of suitcases being dragged around, I assumed it was an airport or a hotel. Probably the former. Jasper and someone else, whose face was too blurry for me to recognize, sat next to me, their eyes darting over to me if I so much as twitched. I groaned impatiently and checked my watch._

_'Do you need anything Bella?' The person sitting next to Jasper asked. I shook my head tersely._

_I waited about another ten or twenty minutes, on the verge of tearing my hair out. I finally stood up._

_'I'm going to go get something to eat.'_

_'I'll go with you.' The one sitting next to Jasper piped, standing up. I shook my head._

_'Actually, can Jasper come with me? I'm feeling kinda...' I trailed off, but Jasper and No-Name nodded their heads._

_Jasper placed his hand on the small of my back, as if to guide me._

_'Do you mind?' I asked, pointing to the ladies' room. He gestured towards it and waited patiently outside. Once I was out of his sight, I sprinted out the other end of the bathroom and away from him._

I gasped as I opened my eyes. This one had been so much clearer. The last one, I only heard voices, and even those sounded slurred. I turned to Jasper. We were in the same position we were in in my little flashback, except this time, we weren't at an airport; we were at a mall. I scrutinized him.

"Jasper..."

"Bella! Are you alright? You just—"

"Did I know you in my human life?"

He froze. He thought for a long time before he chose his words. Actually, word.

"No."

I glared.

"You're lying to me."

He was glaring back now, although the effect was lost on his almost-tangible nervousness.

"If I am, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll get into your head and _make _you tell me. You know I can do that." I said confidently. I watched all of his bravado melt away as he realized I was right. I smirked. "Well?"

He stared pleadingly for a while longer, then sighed in defeat.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you today. Please don't force me; I'm just not ready to tell you."

I felt my anger start to subside a little.

"Fine," I said through gritted teeth. "But I expect to know, and by that, I mean soon."

Jasper nodded eagerly and we made our way back to the car. He started up the engines and we headed back home, chatting casually during the drive.

However, I didn't need to be an empath to sense his guilt.

* * *

**I've updated! Yay!**

**I don't know if I've said this already. I probably did in one of my other stories, but it applies here, too. If you want to use any of my OCs (in this case the Aster family) then you may. You can change their species, attitude, pairings, I don't care. For example, if you wanted to make Brandon a human being who was mated to Anais (he's not), then have fun! If you do use one of my OCs, though, please send me a link to your story and tell me which one you're using. I would love to see what you do with them. :)**

**Here is the note I put in a little while before Jasper and Bella started driving:**

_**(1)**_** The link to Bella's outfit can be found on my profile.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**~Kit~**


	10. Confess to Me, Confess to Me Not

**Bella**

_Six Months Later_

I hung out with Jasper than anybody else. I still would spend time with my family, even then, they were all teasing me about 'my new boyfriend.' I would just roll my eyes and tell them that Jasper and I were just friends.

As for the Cullens, I would help Esme redecorate, learn about medicine from Carlisle, arm wrestle with Emmett (something I always won at), and pass Rosalie the tools when she was working on the cars. Occasionally, I would talk with Alice about fashion or Edward about piano. This only happened occasionally, though; something about those two rubbed me the wrong way.

According to Jasper, the Cullens teased him, too. He and I would usually talk on our tree by the creek. No one ever went there, anyway.

I had learned about Jasper's time in Texas a little while after our trip to Portland. He was shocked that I didn't mind the scars that patterned his chest and back, though he was obviously very relieved.

Jasper had been acting strange lately. He often had a small, content smile on his face, and if not, a look of yearning. When I would try to question him about it, he would often brush the question away or avoid it altogether. Not to mention I had caught him staring at me on more than one occasion.

I asked Rose about it one day while she tinkered with Carlisle's car, trying to make it go faster. Jasper was out hunting with Edward and Alice.

"Rose?"

"Yeah, Bells?" She replied. I heard a loud clanking noise from under the car and she cursed loudly, which caused Esme to gently scold her from the living room.

"Is Jasper okay?" I asked. The concern in my voice was tangible.

"He's fine, why? Hand me that wrench over there."

"He's been acting a little weird lately." I chose my words carefully as Rosalie waved her fingers for the wrench. I hastily gave it to her.

"How so?" She asked.

"I caught him staring at me this morning, during language arts."

Another loud clang came from underneath the car.

Rosalie rolled out from under the car so quickly the wheels on the creeper gave an echoing screech. Her golden eyes were wide as saucers and her mouth was upturned in a mischievous grin. Her eyebrows were raised eagerly. The wrench I had given her was in her hand, but now had finger-shaped imprints on the sides. Her other hand touched her forehead gingerly, where she had hit it against the car. It quickly grasped the wrench, as well, though.

"What? Really?" She asked hungrily.

"Yeah. Do you know why?"

Rosalie only giggled and rolled back under the car.

"Nope! Jasper'll tell you soon, though!" She said in a sing-song voice, which was uncharacteristic. This only made me even more suspicious.

When Rosalie had failed to get me the answers I wanted, I went to Emmett, who was busy playing video games. Going to him probably wasn't the best choice. Emmett was no help either. I told him the same part of the conversation I had told Rosalie, but his reaction was different. Instead, he had given a whoop and fist pumped.

"Finally! Although I suppose this means I owe Rose a hundred dollars..."

I went to Carlisle and Esme instead, who were in the living room. Carlisle had a copy of _Anna Karenina _in his hands, while Esme's chin rested on his shoulder as she read along. When they asked what I needed, I asked them the same questions I had asked Rosalie and Emmett. They shared a knowing glance._  
_

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself about, Bella." Carlisle said. Esme nodded her agreement.

"Jasper will tell you when he's ready."

By now I was getting frustrated with the Cullens. Carlisle said I didn't need to worry, Emmett had made a bet with Rose, and Rose had said the same thing Esme had. Was Jasper hiding something important?

After Jasper came back from hunting, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett took their turns hunting. I didn't want to ask Edward or Alice, so I grudgingly decided to leave it be for now.

I stayed at Jasper's house until four, then I bade the Cullen family goodbye and went home.

* * *

**Jasper**

As soon as Bella was far enough away that we couldn't hear her, Emmett and Rosalie were having a mini party in the living room. Nobody missed Emmett slip the hundred dollar bill into Rose's hand. Emmett pointed a finger in my face and gave me the evil eye.

"She's onto you."

"What?"

"She's onto you," Emmett repeated, a grin growing on his face.

"What did I do?"

"You love Bella," Rosalie teased, extending the word 'love' more than she needed to. I was glad I couldn't blush. They were right, of course. I panicked internally, wondering what to say.

"It's alright, Jasper." Esme said with a smile. "Just tell her how you feel. What if she feels the same way? The worst she can say is no."

Esme was right, as usual. There was a possibility that Bella could reciprocate my feelings.

I was running towards our clearing with my family cheering me on before I had even made up my mind.

My feelings towards Bella had started after she had tackled me. A respect for her, even as she had me pinned up against a tree, started and began to grow from there. She cared about her siblings so much, and now I realized I wanted her to care for me the same way. Although I certainly wasn't a romantic, I constantly found myself hoping I would be good enough and wouldn't disappoint. Emmett had teased me about being like a lovesick puppy, while Esme had compared me to a boy doing everything he could to impress that one girl. It was a little embarrassing how my family knew, but it was the truth.

I made it to the clearing and paced nervously. Finally, I could smell the familiar sweetness of strawberries and cream, and I turned. I smiled softly.

"Bella."

* * *

**Bella**

I looked over at Jasper. He seemed nervous about something. I felt a little guilty that I was about to force him to tell me everything he knew.

I took of my shoes, and dipped my feet in the water without a word. I sat down on a rock by the riverbank. Jasper followed suit. Every now and then, he would glance at me shyly. I ignored it and prodded at some fish with my toes. He was about to say something, but we spoke at the same time.

"Bella, I won't stall—"

"You and I should—"

We looked at each other. He raised his eyebrow while I grinned.

"What were you going to say?" I asked amusedly.

"You can go ahead; I get the feeling what I'm about to say will take up a lot of time." He replied. I nodded.

"You and I should go another place this weekend. We've already gone to the mall, the park, and the zoo, so maybe we could go to the movies or something."

Jasper grimaced.

"Actually Bella, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Why? Do the movies feel too much like a date? We could go to a bookstore or something."

"No, it's not that—"

"Although I've pretty much read all the books out there..." I started, becoming lost in my own thoughts.

"I just wanted to say—" By now Jasper was starting to get frustrated.

"I've got it! How about dancing?"

"Bella, please listen—"

"Alright, fine. You can choose what to do this time. Just don't be surprised if—" This time, I was the one to be interrupted.

"I love you."

"Cool, now—" I stopped as I backpedaled and registered what he had just said. "Wait, what?"

He stared at me in a way that could only be described as adoration.

"I love you. I have for a while now, I've just been trying to work up the courage to tell you. I think— I _know_ we're mates, Bella."

Well, shoot. How can you delicately get yourself out of this one, Bella, without hurting his feelings?

"No. Not interested!" I said, and it came out much more harshly than I intended. _Delicately_. Yeah, right.

Jasper's small, hopeful smile faded and he stood up. He looked at me in disbelief.

"You're not even going to give me a chance?" His time living in Texas started to make itself known through his voice.

I shook my head, not wanting to sugarcoat anything.

"Really."

"Yes, really."

"You can't feel the mating pull?"

I shrugged. Honestly, I didn't know _anything _about what the mating pull felt like, so even if I _did _feel it, I wouldn't be able to tell. Jasper's mood deflated faster than a popped balloon.

"Bella... Please, just give me a chance..."

I felt like a horrible person, but I couldn't lead the poor guy on. I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Jasper."

With that, I turned. Jasper's voice caught my attention, though.

"I'm not going to give up, you know."

I turned back, startled. His eyes were full of determination; there was a fire in them that I hadn't seen there before. He started speaking again, much more confidently this time.

"I'm not going to give up. I know you can love me if you just _accept _me, and I'll do everything I can to make sure you do just that."

I bit my lip nervously and took a hesitant step backwards, then turned and ran as fast as I could back to the house.

When I was halfway there, a frustrated roar that was so full of anguish and heartbreak made me stop dead in my tracks. I closed my eyes and let out a quick sob.

And like the coward I was, I didn't turn back. I didn't run to the clearing and hug my best friend, comfort him and tell him I was sorry.

Instead, I continued running.

* * *

**(\_/)  
(0_0)  
((iii) (iii) —Trix Rabbit fail**

**Silly Jasper! Love at first sight is for kids! You've obviously gotta win over the girl if you want her to love you (A.K.A. If the author wants to have a storyline).**

**No, seriously. I'm not about to just _hand _Tinkerbell over to you. Where would the fun in that be?**

**I hope you all don't hate me for this. :) But really, Jasper having to actually fight for Bella is all I've got for the plot right now, other than... other stuff which would mess up the story if I told you. Besides, it's more 'romantic' if the guy has to chase after the girl (thanks, jasper29forever!). Maybe I could turn this into a love triangle? Hmm...**

**Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please give me some feedback in the reviews: too quick? Too OOC? As long as it doesn't turn into a flame, I will take constructive criticism to heart. :)**

**~Kit~**


	11. Travel, Travel Not

**Jasper**

I was tearing apart a rock when Andrew Aster found me. He looked startled I was on his land, but his expression quickly turned into one pity. That angered me; I didn't want any of that.

"What?" I snarled. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry." Andrew said. "We heard."

I rolled my eyes and glared coldly at him.

"Why do you care?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The gesture reminded me so much of Carlisle I was immediately put at ease.

"I think you need to know something about Bella..." He leaned on a tree. "When she was human, she was cheated on by a young man. She was very much in love with him. That's how we found her dying."

When he said this, my head snapped up.

"How do you know this?" I demanded. "I thought Bella doesn't remember anything from her human life."

"Tanya Denali told me once. I was on a business trip in Alaska, and I met the Denali coven. When I mentioned the newest member of our family and showed her a picture..." Andrew trailed off. He had a distant look in his eyes, and yet, it was one full of displeasure. "It would break Bella's heart. I haven't told her because it would hurt her too much."

I sat down on the half of the rock that I hadn't reduced to gravel and put my head in my hands. Andrew continued speaking.

"Bella doesn't remember who it was, or that it even happened. All that's left of the betrayal is a hole in my daughter's heart that refuses to be filled. She doesn't know why, and that frustrates her. I'm sorry she doesn't return your feelings, yet, Jasper. It's not your fault. Bella is just too afraid to love again. She's gotten so used to that emptiness... I would go so far as to say she's scared she'll hurt you more if she loves you, than if she hates you."

She was scared? Edward had really done that to her?

"Thank you for telling me that, sir. It makes me feel a little better." I said. It was true. "But I need to tell you something now. I know who deceived her."

Andrew's eyes turned black.

"Who?"

"Please don't tell anyone, and please don't hurt them... It was Edward and Alice."

"Your brother and sister?"

I nodded. Andrew paced angrily. His eyes reverted back to gold after a solid five minutes. He sighed in defeat.

"I won't tell anyone. If Bella were to find out, she would kill them. Literally."

"I know." I said. I stood up. "I need to get back home. Thanks for helping me."

We shook hands awkwardly, and I ran back, wondering what I would tell my family.

* * *

As I feared, everyone was on my case as soon as I got home.

"I hear bells tolling!" Emmett sang.

"What was that scream?" Rose asked with a smirk. "Did Bella tackle you in a fit of lust?"

Before I could speak, Alice jumped up and down.

"Ooh! Can I plan the wedding? We can invite Tanya and the other Denalis, and we can invite all the other covens, too! It'll be the wedding of the century! Even the Volturi will be there!"

"She doesn't love me."

Everyone's faces fell in a heartbeat.

"I'm sorry, Jasper..." Esme said, looking up at me. I shrugged, and told her I was over it. I could tell she didn't believe me. I didn't even believe myself.

"I just came back to tell you I'm leaving." I said. Esme looked absolutely crushed, while Carlisle looked hurt. I quickly fixed my sentence. "Not permanently. I'm just going to take some time away."

I didn't bother to tell them where I was going. They already knew.

"Alright." Carlisle said, looking relieved. "Just bring your phone so—"

"I'm not bringing anything. I'll use the house phones whenever I have to."

Emmett gave me a bear hug.

"I'm gonna miss wrestling with you. Ed's just no fun."

Rosalie lightly wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my neck. I stroked her hair.

"We're supposed to be the Hale twins. Now what?" She asked, her voice sounding small.

"I won't be gone that long, Rose. We can just say I went to visit some distant relatives."

Rose pulled away and nodded.

Esme embraced me, having to stand on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around my neck.

"I'm going to miss you. Come back soon, okay?" She asked.

"I will..." I said. My voice was muffled into her shoulder. I almost didn't want to leave.

I gave Carlisle a hug.

"Don't forget to call, son." He said.

Now I wasn't sure what to do with Alice or Edward. Apparently, they weren't either. Edward settled for a handshake, while Alice gave me a quick embrace like the others and pulled away. To my surprise, I was okay with it. Although we all knew if this had happened a year ago I would have torn their heads off.

I walked out of the Cullen house with nothing but the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet.

If I was lucky, Peter already knew I was coming. If he was, he was probably working with Charlotte to get my room ready. He probably also knew about Bella and would give me some advice on that sort of thing. 'An expert,' he liked to call himself. Charlotte said otherwise.

I ran South back to the place that had started this all:

Texas.

* * *

"There he is! The good old Major of the Confederate Vampires!" Pete said as soon as I got there.

"We're sorry about your friend, Jasper." Char said, glaring at Peter quickly.

"Oh yeah. What's her name... Becca... Bayla..." Peter said, scratching the back of his neck. This time, Peter got a smack upside the head from Charlotte.

"Ow!" He complained. "What was that for, sugar?"

"For being inconsiderate, you big lug."

I smiled fondly at my friends' exchange. Peter and Charlotte were a strange couple, but they fit together nonetheless. Whenever Peter did something stupid, Charlotte would correct him. Whenever Charlotte was being too stuffy, Peter would loosen her up with his trademark attitude.

"It's alright, Char. He's just being Peter."

Charlotte laughed and showed me to my room. Peter gave an indignant, "Hey!" and trailed after us. We rolled our eyes at him as he protested, saying he wasn't done harassing me just yet.

"...And of course, we still have your things from the last time you visited, so you can stay as long as you like." Charlotte finished up her little tour.

"Thanks Char," I said, giving her a pat on the head. "But I'm probably only gonna stay a week or so. I promised Esme I'd come back soon."

Charlotte shrugged.

"Whatever you say. Now come on, Peter. Give him some quiet time."

"He _was _getting quiet time!" Peter complained.

"No, he wasn't. And he won't, either, if you stay in the room yakking his ears off."

With that, Charlotte grabbed Peter's hair and dragged him out of the room.

"Ow! Hey, be careful, woman!"

Charlotte shut the door behind her with a sad smile thrown in my direction.

I turned around and surveyed the room once more. It was exactly the way I had left it a couple of years ago. However, it wasn't as dusty as it should have been thanks to multiple cleanings, courtesy of Charlotte. My hat was still in the corner, and my clothes were still hanging in the closet.

I grinned at the flannel button up shirts and the blue jeans. That was one of the upsides to breaking away from Alice: I could wear anything I wanted now.

The phone sitting on the nightstand made me a bit uneasy. Carlisle, Esme, and the rest of my family knew the number to Pete and Char's house, but the Asters didn't. What if Bella got in trouble? That girl was practically a danger magnet; one of the few traits she had kept from her human life. What if the secret somehow leaked, and I came home to find Edward and Alice's ashes? As much as I disliked them, I didn't want them dead, for Carlisle and Esme's sakes. Rosalie and Emmett wouldn't care less. In fact, they'd probably help Bella tear Edward and Alice apart.

I was starting to think I should have brought my cell phone. I was sure I could stick it out for a week, until I could figure out what to do about Bella.

I wasn't about to let her go. I had meant every word I had said down by the creek, even though they came out impulsively. I just needed time to think about what I could do to fill the hole Andrew had told me about.

Peter had been right.

I was the Major of the Confederate Army, and I wasn't going down without a fight.

* * *

**Don't murder me. I know I haven't gotten to the fluffy stuff yet, but that's going to come next chapter, three chapters at the latest. This is more of a filler chapter.**

**I hope you all enjoyed! Sorry about the long update, by the way; Peter and Charlotte were hard to work with, but I was PMed by the uh... the producer(?) of this story, jasper29forever, saying she wanted me to incorporate Peter and Charlotte in there somewhere. They probably won't play a very big part, just so you all know. **

**~Kit~**


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